heart and blood vessel disorders
Varicose Veins
Treatment of Varicose Veins
Support hose Sometimes, injection or laser therapy Sometimes surgery Although individual varicose veins can be removed or eliminated by injection therapy or surgery, the disorder cannot be cured. Thus, treatment mainly relieves symptoms, improves appearance, and prevents complications. Elevating the legs—by lying down or using a footstool when sitting—relieves the symptoms of varicose veins but does not prevent new varicose veins from forming. Usually, varicose veins that appear during pregnancy largely subside during the 2 or 3 weeks after delivery. During this time, they should not be treated. Elastic stockings(support hose) compress the veins and prevent them from stretching and hurting. People who do not want surgery or injection therapy or who have a medical condition that prevents them from having these treatments may choose to wear elastic stockings. , is injected into the vein to irritate it and produce a blood clot (thrombus). In essence, this procedure produces a harmless kind of Superficial Venous Thrombosis . Healing of the blood clot leads to formation of scar tissue, which blocks the vein. However, the blood clot may dissolve instead of becoming scar tissue, and the varicose vein then reopens. Also, new varicose veins often develop. Sclerotherapy techniques also use special bandaging that reduces the size of the blood clot by compressing the diameter of the injected vein. A smaller blood clot is more likely to form scar tissue, as desired. A further advantage of this technique is that adequate compression virtually eliminates the pain that usually accompanies the vein irritation caused by the technique. Although injection therapy is more time-consuming than surgery, it has several advantages: Anesthesia is not necessary. New varicose veins can be treated as they develop. People can go about their normal daily activities between treatments. Laser therapy is also used for the treatment of varicose veins. This treatment uses a highly focused, continuous stream of high-intensity light to cut or destroy tissue. Laser treatment is sometimes used when a person desires cosmetic improvement. Surgery is no longer used as a routine treatment for varicose veins. When surgery is done, it aims to remove as many of the varicose veins as possible. However, surgeons try to preserve the saphenous vein. This vein is the longest superficial vein in the body, extending from the ankle to the groin, where it joins the femoral vein (the main deep vein in the leg). Surgeons try to preserve the saphenous vein because it can be used for bypass procedures in case blockage ever develops in the heart vessels or other major body vessels. If the saphenous vein must be removed, a procedure called stripping is done. The surgeon makes two incisions, one at the groin and one at the ankle, and opens the vein at each end. A flexible wire is threaded through the entire vein and then pulled out to remove the vein. To remove other varicose veins, the surgeon makes incisions in other areas. Because the superficial veins play a less significant role than the deep veins in returning blood to the heart, their removal does not impair circulation if the deep veins are functioning normally. Removal of varicose veins is a lengthy procedure, so the person is usually given a general anesthetic. This procedure relieves the symptoms and prevents complications, but it leaves scars. The more extensive the procedure, the longer the time before new varicose veins develop. However, removal of varicose veins does not eliminate the tendency to develop new varicose veins. 