Prime Highlights
- Donald Trump, former president, diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency following apparent swelling of legs.
- Medics assure no serious illness; overall health rated excellent.
Key Facts
- It is not a life-threatening condition and is often found in individuals aged above 70 years.
- Bruising of the hand attributed to shaking hands many times over and daily intake of aspirin.
Key Background
Ex-President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) after swelling in his lower extremities and bruising on his right hand. After a comprehensive medical examination, White House doctors eliminated serious diseases like deep vein thrombosis, heart failure, or kidney disease. Trump is in good overall health with no indication of systemic illness or cognitive impairment.
Chronic venous insufficiency is a circulatory disease in which veins in the legs have difficulty getting blood back to the heart in an efficient manner, commonly occurring as swelling, pain, and heaviness, and, in the most extreme cases, skin change. The condition is relatively benign and widespread among individuals 70 and older. Trump is 79 years old, so he would be a candidate for such circulatory conditions. His treatment regimen is compression stockings, leg elevation, and physical activity—regular conservative treatment to treat CVI.
Bruising of Trump’s hand was due to repeated handshaking leading to inflammation of soft tissues, combined with aspirin-induced thinning of the blood, which he consumes every day as a health prophylactic, according to media reports. These are minor symptoms unrelated to any serious disease or injury.
Diagnosis comes on the heels of viral photos that had the effect of fueling a public uproar over Trump’s overall health condition, most notably photos that showed him with obviously visible swollen ankles. White House openness regarding Trump’s diagnosis forces a seldom-observed look into Trump’s age-related health. The timing, moreover, is significant in that Trump has already tried to attack sexual figurementjustice on media news surrounding political figures and called up a focus on the larger picture of age, ability, and leadership in America’s politics.
Though the country’s oldest president, Trump’s physicians have assured the country that he is in superb physical and mental condition, referencing recent weight loss, better cholesterol readings, and his ongoing active agenda.
