Vein treatment is the set of procedures involved in treating abnormal veins. 20% of adults experience vein disease at some point in their lifetime. Some blood vessels may swell up, over-enlarge, and become painful. Venous conditions cause discomfort, low self-esteem and sometimes even numbness. Your doctor may recommend a vein treatment procedure to help relieve these symptoms.
Some of the common vein disorders are spider veins, varicose veins, venous ulcers, venous insufficiency, superficial venous thrombosis and deep vein thrombosis or DVT.
Spider Veins
Spider veins are smaller, red, purple and blue vessels that also twist and turn. They are easily visible through the skin and affect the capillaries. They look like spider’s web or tree branches and are visible on the legs. These can often cause aching or cramping in the legs. Other common symptoms include tiredness, restlessness, burning, throbbing or heaviness in the legs. Pain is usually relieved by elevating your legs or wearing compression stockings.
Varicose Veins
Varicose veins are swollen and enlarged veins. They happen most often in the legs. They can develop when valves in your veins become damaged. This causes problems with blood flow. Over time, too much blood collects in your veins. The veins may bulge, twist and stand out under your skin. They can cause symptoms such as cramping, aching or swelling in your legs.
Venous Ulcers
Venous ulcers are open areas on the lower legs. They occur when the veins in your legs do not push blood back up to your heart. Blood back up in the veins, building up pressure. If not treated, increased pressure over time and excess fluid in the affected area can cause an open sore to form. Most venous ulcers occur on the leg, above the ankle. This type of wound can be slow to heal. Symptoms include swelling, achiness, and tiredness in the legs. Usually a red, irritated skin rash develops and then it develops into an open wound.
Venous Insufficiency
Venous insufficiency is improper functioning of the vein valves in the legs. This is when the veins don’t allow the blood to flow back to your heart. It can cause swelling in the legs and ankles, tight feeling in your calves or itchy and painful legs, pain when walking that stops with rest, brown-colored skin often near your ankles, leg ulcers that sometimes don’t heal, and painful leg cramps or muscle spasms.
Superficial Venous Thrombosis
Superficial venous thrombosis is a blood clot that develops in a vein close to the surface of the skin. The skin over the vein becomes red, swollen and painful. Because blood in the vein is clotted, the vein feels hard under the skin. Treatment for this is a warm compress and over the counter medications. These most often subside by themselves.
Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)
Deep vein thrombosis occurs when a blood clot forms in one or more of the deep veins in your leg. The clot may partially or completely block the blood flow in the vein. DVT can cause leg pain, swelling, red or discolored skin or a warm feeling in the leg. An ultrasound can be performed to diagnosis a DVT.
Vein Treatment Procedures
Vein treatment procedures vary from one diagnosis to another. The treatment can range from compression stockings to surgical correction. Some of the most popular treatment options for venous disease include sclerotherapy, venous ablations, and perforator procedure.
Sclerotherapy is when the doctor uses a special medicine to close and shrink the veins. It causes the vein to scar, forcing blood to reroute through healthier veins. The collapsed vein is reabsorbed into local tissue, and it eventually fades.
Venous Ablation is a minimally invasive treatment procedure for varicose veins and other chronic venous insufficiencies. The provider will insert a catheter into the defective vein to force it to close and shrink. Blood will then reroute to other healthy veins. The most common venous ablation technique done at Vascular Institute is Radio Frequency Ablation or RFA.
Perforator procedure is an outpatient treatment that treats the faulty perforator veins with a laser ablation.