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VEIN DISEASE TREATMENT

What is Vein Disease?

The circulatory system within the body consists of both vein and arteries. Your arteries travel from the heart and carry oxygenated blood to your organs and tissues, sharing nutrients to all parts of the body. Once the blood reaches its target location, it returns back to the heart via veins. These veins carry deoxygenated blood against gravity with the help of valves. These valves are found about one inch apart and allow the blood to flow in the right direction.

When the valves stop working, blood starts to pool in your veins, causing an array of different problems including swollen ankles, blood clots, leg pain, spider veins, varicose veins, and even ulcers. When the blood is not moving within your deep veins, this is called deep vein thrombosis. If your valves are not functioning properly in the superficial system of veins, this is called venous insufficiency.

What Are the Symptoms and Warning Signs of Vein Disease?

Warning Signs of Vein Disease:

Spider veins: This condition is not discussed as a potentially serious medical problem. In many cases, spider veins do not progress into more substantial blood pooling. However, patients should observe these web-like clusters of visible veins as an indication that some of the small vessels beneath the skin are weakening.
Varicose veins: More prominent than spider veins, varicose veins may be seen or felt on the skin. These larger vessels where blood has pooled bulge and may look ropey as more of the vein swells and distorts with blood. Varicose veins may be obviously visible and may also cause additional symptoms.

Varicose Vein Symptoms

Bulging bumps or longer, swollen and ropey veins
A feeling of heaviness in the legs
Persistent itching or burning in the skin in the area of a varicose vein
Aching or cramping in the legs, especially after walking or standing for a prolonged period

Who is at a Higher Risk of Vein Disease?

An estimated 30-60% of adults suffer from vein diseases and the incidence increases with age.

Factors associated with the development of vein diseases include:

Heredity
Pregnancy
Prolonged standing or sitting
Obesity
Hormonal therapy including birth control pills
Chronic constipation

Probably, there are multiple factors which contribute to vein diseases, heredity being the most important.

How Do I Choose the Best Vein Disease Treatment Option for Me?

Patients are not on their own to determine how to address vein disease. If you are exhibiting the signs of vein disease, schedule a consultation with a vein specialist. Our team conducts a thorough consultation and examination with every patient. When necessary, imaging may be performed to visualize the veins in question. After a comprehensive assessment, a vein specialist can discuss the treatment options that are most suitable to the extent of venous insufficiency that has been identified.

Vein Disease Treatment Options

At Vein Center Houston, we are able to treat your vein conditions without the hassle of a hospital stay. Thanks to less invasive procedures, we are able to treat many varicose and spider veins within our office. Our treatments options include the following:

Ambulatory Phlebectomy

This procedure uses small, slit-like incisions in the skin to remove varicose and larger spider veins. It is a great option for superficial veins and large veins that bulge above the skin. Ambulatory phlebectomy is minimally invasive, and doesn’t require sutures or general anesthesia.

Cutaneous Laser Therapy

Cutaneous Laser Therapy targets spider veins and is able to remove them. With the us of a pulse of laser light, a light energy targets the spider vein, causing the vein walls to collapse. Over the course of the next two weeks the body will scavenge and absorb the vein and it will totally disappear.

Endovenous Laser Ablation Surgery

Endovenous Laser Ablation Surgery is able to target diseased veins through tiny incisions in the skin. This procedure closes the vein and reroutes the blood to healthy veins. With the use of ultrasound guidance, this procedure intents to close the diseased vein, not full removal.

Sclerotherapy

Sclerotherapy is a common procedure for the treatment of both varicose and spider veins. It is one of the most effective treatments for bulging veins in the hands and feet. This medical procedure involves the injection of a sclerosant solution into the prominent veins, which causes their eventual collapse.

Ultrasound Guided Sclerotherapy

Through ultrasound guided sclerotherapy, Dr. Kapusta is able to accurately guide the needle and precisely inject the abnormal veins. Adjacent structures are identified and kept safe from injury. Sometimes the sclerosant solution is mixed with CO2 to create a foam and enhance the effectiveness.

Do I Need Time to Recover After Vein Disease Treatment?

Some patients may need time to recover after vein treatment. More conservative techniques like sclerotherapy performed on spider veins or small varicose veins may require nothing more than wearing compression stockings for a few days. Patients who undergo ambulatory phlebectomy may have to wear compression for slightly longer and may have a few restrictions on various activities such as using a sauna or hot tub. Before treatments, we provide aftercare instructions to patients outlining how to care for their legs in the weeks after their procedure.

Will I Need to Wear Compression Stockings After Vein Procedures?

Compression stockings help the movement of blood upwards out of the lower extremities. The veins have several one-way valves that should prevent the backflow of blood. However, vein disease impairs their function. Compression stockings are usually tighter at the bottom and gradually lessen toward the top. This enables blood to move more freely and makes pooling less likely. It is especially important to facilitate good blood flow as blood is re-routing away from damaged veins to a new set of vessels.

Initially, patients are advised to wear compression 24 hours a day for a few days. After that point, compression may need to be worn several hours a day for another few weeks.

How Long Do Vein Procedures Take?

Vein treatments can take anywhere from 15 minutes to about an hour. This is dependent on the number of veins that need to be treated and on the modality selected for vein removal. Our patients can expect us to discuss the details of treatment, including how much time we will allot for their session, during their consultation visit.

Is Vein Disease Treatment Painful?

We perform a variety of different vein treatments, each of which is minimally-invasive. Patients can expect us to prioritize their comfort regardless of the type of treatment they select. Before beginning any vein procedure, we may apply a topical or local anesthetic to decrease the sensation in the skin. This is the only area in which nerve endings may signal discomfort, for there are no nerve endings in the veins themselves. Therefore, the discomfort that a patient may feel is typically limited to minor stinging or pinching as the needle is inserted.

What Happens If Vein Disease Goes Untreated?

If Vein Disease goes untreated it can lead to serious complications. These complications may include changes of the skin color, ulcers, bleeding, swelling and blood clots.