What is Chronic venous insufficiency?

Varicose veins are a sign of an underlying condition called vein disease, or venous insufficiency.

It develops when your body cannot efficiently pump blood from the lower extremities back up to the heart. This is the result of damage to tiny, one-way vein valves. Once damaged, your vein valves can begin to malfunction and affect circulation, eventually leading to blood pooling in your legs, ankles, and feet.

Symptoms of varicose veins.

List of some common problems of varicose veins. Symptoms can differ from person to person. It may also present as skin discoloration or redness. Rash like changes may develop with burning. Heaviness with aching is another common symptom with or without swelling at end of day. Always ask for advice from the doctor.

If you don’t get treatment for varicose veins, they can grow much worse, potentially extending to the deep veins that act as a main pathway to relay blood back to your heart. This leads to blood pooling in all of your leg veins, potentially causing:

• Leg pain – Dull aching, heaviness, or cramping in legs
• Itching and tingling
• Leg swelling
• Discolored skin (skin pigmentation changes like darkening) Red or swollen, crusted, or weepy skin (stasis dermatitis)
• Varicose veins on the surface (Twisted, bulging veins)
• Thickening and hardening of the skin on the legs and ankles (lipodermatosclerosis)
• Leg cramps – Pain that gets worse when standing and gets better when legs are raised
• Leg ulcers / non healing wound

What causes varicose veins?

Varicose veins tend to result due to the weakness in the wall of the vein. Similar to Heart valve in function, vein valves prevent the back flow of blood. They open letting the blood out then close to block the reverse blood flow. Sometimes vein walls shrink and lose elasticity – causing valve weakness resulting in leaky valves.

If untreated, venous reflux may eventually cause chronic venous insufficiency. If you develop chronic venous disease, you can develop varicose veins and all the troublesome symptoms that go with them.

Risk factors for venous insufficiency include:

• family history
• pregnancy and other conditions that put pressure on veins in the legs
• a history of blood clots
• a history of smoking
• standing or sitting for long periods of time
• being overweight, which increases pressure on the legs
• menopause
• aging, which results in decreased elasticity of blood vessels
• weakened blood vessel walls
• inflammation of the veins (known as phlebitis)
• chronic constipation and in rare cases, tumors

How varicose veins diagnosed?

Your health care provider will do a physical exam and ask about your symptoms and medical history. Diagnosis is often made based on the appearance of leg veins when you are standing or sitting with your legs dangling.

A duplex ultrasound exam of your leg may be ordered to:

• Check how blood flows in the veins
• Rule out other problems with the legs, such as a blood clots

Is varicose veins serious?

Varicose veins are seldom serious problems that need emergent treatment. Consult your doctor if you you have above symptoms and have any predisposing factors.

If you have varicose veins, you’re up to 430% more likely to develop deep vein thrombosis, a potentially life-threatening condition in which you develop a blood clot in one of your deep veins.

What is the best way to eliminate varicose veins?

Treatment for Varicose Veins

It is generally a good idea to seek varicose vein treatment as soon as possible. Over time, venous symptoms can become worse and also more difficult to treat. You should also be aware that when varicose veins are left untreated, you may be at increased risk for developing dangerous health conditions like blood clots and venous ulcers (open, non-healing sores).

We specialize specifically in minimally invasive, outpatient varicose vein treatments. The experience and compassion have helped many patients in community. Our procedures take less than an hour, from start to finish. Afterward, you can go home and resume most of your normal activities.

Although our non-surgical treatment methods vary, they all have a similar goal: close off diseased veins, then reroute blood flow to healthy, surrounding ones.

Your varicose vein treatment options may include one or more of the following:

ENDOVENOUS LASER THERAPY (EVLT)

EVLT (a.k.a. endovenous laser ablation) is a type of laser treatment for varicose veins. It is considered the gold-standard of varicose vein treatments. Using ultrasound guidance, a vein specialist threads a very thin laser fiber into the diseased vein. Then, laser energy is applied to close the vein off and redirect blood flow. Over time, the treated vein will be absorbed by your body.

VARITHENA VEIN TREATMENT

Varithena treatment refers to a foam treatment for varicose veins. It is used to treat vein conditions associated with the great saphenous vein (GSV) and surrounding vessels. Using ultrasound guidance, a small catheter is placed into the diseased vein. Then, varithena foam is injected through the catheter, causing the vein to collapse and seal off.

ULTRASOUND-GUIDED SCLEROTHERAPY

During ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy, a vein specialist uses live ultrasound guidance to treat varicose veins located near the skin’s surface. They inject a sclerosant agent directly into the diseased vein, which intentionally irritates the vein, causing it to collapse and close.

CLARIVEIN®

ClariVein®, also referred to as mechanochemical ablation, uses ultrasound guidance and a special catheter with a rotating tip at one end. This unique varicose vein treatment simultaneously applies mechanical and chemical methods to seal off diseased veins. As with other minimally invasive treatments, patients are able to immediately return to most normal activities immediately afterward.

VENASEAL™

OurVenaSeal™ closure system treats varicose veins by applying a specially-formulated medical adhesive through a small catheter into affected veins. This adhesive seals off varicose veins, allowing blood flow to be rerouted. Unlike with other nonsurgical techniques, the use of compression socks is not usually required after VenaSeal™ treatment.

RADIOFREQUENCY ABLATION (RFA)

Radiofrequency ablation treatment, or RFA, is a safe, proven medical procedure that not only treats the symptoms of varicose veins, but also treats the underlying condition that causes them. This is accomplished by the specialist inserting a small catheter into the diseased vein through a small incision under ultrasound guidance. Consistent and uniform heat is delivered to contract collagen in the vein walls, causing them to collapse and close. After the vein is closed, blood is diverted to healthy veins, which improves circulation This outpatient procedure time is usually less than an hour and does not require hospital stay.

Benefits of Minimally Invasive Treatment for Varicose Veins

Minimally invasive, outpatient varicose vein treatment can quickly improve your quality of life by alleviating painful symptoms, along with improving the appearance of visible veins. It can also reduce your risk of developing several serious health conditions.

Although conservative management approaches such as exercise, weight loss, and compression hosiery can help reduce certain varicose vein symptoms, these measures don’t actually treat the veins themselves. To effectively treat varicose veins, your provider typically uses minimally invasive procedures including:

• VenaSeal™
• Endovenous radiofrequency ablation
• Ultrasound-guided foam sclerotherapy
• Microphlebectomy

All of these treatment approaches are faster, easier, and considerably less painful than surgical techniques. Surgical procedures like vein ligation and vein stripping require many incisions and a long recovery period.

What are the side effects of varicose vein treatments?

Minor side effects of the procedure are same as any other like possibility of infection, bruising, soreness etc. Most of them are self limiting in short time. But it is important to understand that this is not permanent cure as more varicose veins and spider veins can develop over the period of time as it is a progressive process.

What is my recovery looks like?

ou may resume your normal activity immediately, with the exception of air travel or prolonged sitting (such as a long car trip). Stay active and do not spend too much time in bed during the recovery period. Being idle may increase the chance of complications. However, you should avoid strenuous physical activity for some time following the procedure.

What kind of follow-up care is typical after Varicose vein Treatments?

Patient follow-ups are 2 weeks, 2 months, 6 months, and 1 year after the procedure.