You’re getting ready for summer, look down and see blue and red pen marks on your legs. How did these get there? Well, for most they are not ink stains, but spider and varicose veins that can appear after pregnancy, weight gain, trauma, prolonged standing or genetics in some instances. Now that you have them, what can be done for leg vein removal?
First let us ask why these veins appear on the legs anyway? The superficial veins appear as a result of body weight, pressure and gravity. Veins have the difficult task of returning blood to the heart and from the lower extremities it needs to travel upward. Often the one way valves can become damaged due to the pressure being stronger than the valves. When this occurs too much blood saturates into the compartment of the vein and causes it to swell. The swelling can cause over flow, making spider veins appear or can increase the size of the larger veins, leading to varicose veins.
So how do we remove leg veins? Sclerotherapy is a very effective way to eliminate the red, blue or purple veins that can make legs look bruised or dirty. It can also treat some of the smaller varicose veins. The procedure is performed by injecting a Sclerosing or irritant solution into the damaged vessel. The solution causes the vein to collapse and the body then breaks it down and fades it away. The treatment can take up to an hour to perform and take 4-6 weeks to break down the vein. 2-4 or more treatments are needed for effective results.
Lasers can also be effective for vein removal. Lasers use directed heat energy to damage and destroy the vessels. Used alone or in conjunction with sclerotherapy, laser vein removal works well on vessels less than 3 millimeters in diameter. 2-4 treatment may be required for adequate clearing of an area. Nd:YAG, pulse dye, diode and IPL (intense pulsed light) are some types of effective vascular lasers. For larger varicose veins, the endovenous laser treatment or EVLT is a fast effective way to eliminate the damaged vessels. EVLT incorporates the use of ultrasound with partially invasive laser technique to thermally shut down the vein from the inside. Treatment is done under local anesthesia with minimal downtime and minimal to no scarring.
Surgical procedures for leg vein removal include stripping and ligation. Generally these procedures are done under general anesthetic in an outpatient or hospital setting. The upper end of the damaged vein is tied off and the remainder of the vein is pulled out. Complications can be severe and scarring is almost always a definite. Several treatments are available to remove leg veins. Consult with a qualified vein specialist to determine the extent of your venous insufficiency to determine the most effective treatment for you. |
