Posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2015 at 5:35 pm.
Has leg pain has kept you in your chair and off the dance floor lately? Have you stopped taking walks, playing tennis or bowling? Eliminating these activities and others like them can be because of symptoms associated with vein disease. Varicose veins or vein disease can cause aching, painful or restless legs, as well as leg heaviness, swollen ankles or muscle cramps. They can occur at any age and among both men and women. A family history of vein disease or varicose veins and aging do increase one’s tendency to develop varicose veins. Other contributing factors include a sedentary lifestyle, prolonged standing occupations and pregnancy.
Vein disorders are not always visible to the naked eye so if you have stopped some physical activities or are experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned, the first step is to have an examination and diagnostic ultrasound to determine the cause and severity of your vein problems. The treatments to eliminate vein abnormalities have improved dramatically in recent years. You don’t need to undergo painful surgical vein stripping. State-of-the-art corrective treatments include endovenous laser ablation (EVLA), ultrasound guided sclerotherapy and sclerotherapy. With any of these three procedures, there is usually minimal to no downtime and no sedation so patients are able to return to their daily activities immediately.
EVLA eliminates the abnormal saphenous vein, which is the source of most varicose vein issues. Using ultrasound technology, a thin laser fiber is guided into the diseased vein through a very small opening to deliver laser heat to the diseased vein wall, causing it to close and seal shut and diverting the blood to healthy veins.
Ultrasound guided sclerotherapy (UGS) allows us to treat large veins beneath the surface of the skin. An ultrasound image is used to guide a needle into the abnormal vein and deliver medication that causes the vein to close.
Surface sclerotherapy is a treatment for small to medium size (reticular) veins in which a tiny needle is used to inject the veins with a medication, which acts in the same way as in UGS to close the vein. The collapsed veins are reabsorbed into the body and the surface veins are no longer visible.
There is no way to completely prevent varicose veins but if you’d like to keep dancing, watch your weight, exercise regularly, eat a diet high in fiber and low in salt and wear compression stockings.