I am often asked by patients if they are at risk of getting blood clots when they travel on an overseas trip. To clarify what is meant by a blood clot you must first understand that there are 2 types of blood clots: Superficial (that involves the veins just below the skin surface) and Deep (that involves the more significant deeper veins). It is usually involvement of these deeper veins (a Deep Vein Thrombosis or DVT) that can lead to smaller clots travelling to the lung which are called Pulmonary Embolisms (PE’s). A PE can be fatal. Interestingly, clots can also come from clots in the superficial veins so these should not to be thought of as completely harmless clots.
Often this question about flying and clots is asked because the patient has large varicose veins. The simple answer to this question is that, although varicose veins are a risk factor for developing blood clots, a much larger risk factor is the presence of an underlying blood clotting abnormality. A clotting abnormality is found in over half the people who have DVT’s and PE’s. Approximately 4% of the population have a blood clotting abnormality. For those people in the “at risk” group it is important to understand that it is often other risk factors that are added to the clotting abnormality that precipitate a clot. These factors are: being overweight, smoking, excess alcohol, not enough water, no activity and being on the oral contraceptive pill.
The use of Jobst travel socks which are clinically proven to prevent swelling and reduce the risk of developing DVT can be beneficial. Vein Doctors Group now sells Jobst Travel Socks.
Is it beneficial to wear compression type garments like SKINS? I have done this in the past and it “seems” to help with swelling when I fly. I am not over weight, but I can’t avoid puffy legs on flights over 6 hours. 🙁 I thought it would also help out
with DVT yeah?
Hi Sarah, I must admit that I have always been a bit sceptical about the claims made by products like Skins. They are not graduated compression stockings (from my understanding) and hence do not give the same compression as medical stockings. They may
be useful for long flights (they certainly feel nice!) but nothing is as good as medical graduated compression stockings from a reputable manufacturer.