Bulging varicose veins can force you to forgo your favorite fashions, particularly during the summer months. While varicose veins are unattractive, they can also be painful and can cause health complications in severe cases. Doctors use a variety of varicose vein treatments to destroy the unsightly veins and improve the appearance of your legs.
Identification
Varicose veins are thick, ropy veins that protrude from the skin and look red or blue. The veins often appear on the ankles, feet, calves and inner and outer thighs. Varicose veins affect half of people 50 years and older and 15 to 25 percent of all adults, according to the Society of Interventional Radiology.
Cause
Veins take circulated blood back to the heart. Valves in the vein open and close to keep blood flowing in the right direction. In some people, the valves weaken and don't close completely. When this happens, blood flows backward, causing a condition called reflux. The extra blood forces the veins to enlarge, elongate and thicken.
Nonsurgical Treatment
During sclerotherapy, your doctor injects a chemical into your vein, causing the walls of the vein to stick together and seal. In a few weeks, the vein becomes scar tissue and becomes less obvious on your leg. Doctors use the heat from lasers to destroy smaller varicose veins. Both sclerotherapy and laser therapy require multiple treatments. If the varicose veins are deep inside your legs, your doctor may recommend a vein ablation technique. After a catheter and probe is inserted into the vein, your doctor seals the vein by heating it with laser energy or radiofrequency waves.
Surgical Treatment
While surgery to remove varicose veins was once the standard treatment for all veins, it is now reserved for the treatment of large varicose veins. During the minimally invasive ambulatory phlebectomy, your doctor removes your vein through a small incision in your skin. Doctors also use surgical ligation and stripping to remove troublesome veins by tying the veins shut and removing them through incisions in the skin. Ambulatory phlebectomy results in less scarring and a shorter recovery period than surgical ligation and stripping. The National Women's Health Information Center reports that removing veins does not affect the circulation of blood in the leg, because veins deeper in the leg take care of the larger volumes of blood.
Prevention/Solution
If you a have a predisposition to weak valves, you may eventually develop new varicose veins after treatment. The best way to slow down the development of new varicose veins is to wear gradient compression support stockings as much as possible during the day, according to the National Women's Health Information Center. Gradient compression hose put pressure on your veins, forcing the blood in veins upward toward the heart.
