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Treatment Options For Your Varicose Veins

The bulging, purple veins in your legs are getting larger and your legs are beginning to ache. It's time to get those veins removed before they cause even more health issues. Your doctor will begin with non-invasive approaches to prevent the veins from getting larger and reduce some of the painful symptoms. If these don't give you enough relief, varicose vein surgery will be the next option for you. Here is why varicose veins are such as problem and some of the ways they can be treated.

Varicose Veins Affect Your Circulation as They Advance

Your blood vessels have tiny valves in them that control the blood flow. When the valves fail, blood can pool in the vessel, causing them to swell and the blood to pool. The vessel can twist and kink as it expands, restricting the blood flow to other parts of your leg. This can result in a number of problems such as:

• swollen feet and ankles
• fatigue and pain in your legs
• muscle spasms in your calf muscles

The treatment of varicose veins is focused on restoring the circulation to your legs and feet.

Your Initial Treatment Options

Non-invasive treatments will be offered first to improve the circulation in your legs and reduce the pain and fatigue. These won't improve the appearance of the varicose veins, but they will reduce the pooling and increase blood flow.

Compression stockings - These are special stockings that apply pressure to your legs. The pressure is not even along the stocking, being tighter at the foot and less at the top. This creates a pumping action as your leg moves to force the blood out of the affected blood vessels. You'll need to wear these stockings the majority of the time to gain benefit from them.

Muscle strengthening exercises - A physical therapist will show you a number of exercises to develop the muscles in your legs so they will force more blood into your circulation. You may do these exercises while wearing the compression stockings for added support.

Surgical Treatment for Varicose Veins

To improve the circulation in your legs and their appearance, surgery is the best option. The goal with this treatment is to restore circulation and remove the bulging veins in your legs.

Sclerotherapy - This procedure requires the injection of a substance into the varicose vein, which causes it to shrink and the blood in it to clot. The vessel will eventually be absorbed by the body and leave no trace.

Laser treatment - A small tube with a laser at the end is inserted into the varicose vein and the vessel is heated up. This causes the vessel to shrink and the blood flowing through it to stop. As with sclerotherapy, the tissue is absorbed by the body.

Phlebectomy - With this procedure, several incisions are made over the varicose vein and it is cut up into small pieces. The vein is removed in sections and the incisions sutured closed. When large varicose veins are removed this way, there can be some scarring that remains after the wounds heal. To learn more, speak with someone like Premier Surgical Associates.