Living with varicose veins often means dealing with aching, heaviness, or throbbing in the legs. This can especially be true after standing for long periods. Visible swollen veins can cause self-consciousness while symptoms may worsen throughout the day. Knowing their cause and your treatment options can help improve your health as well as your quality of life.
Varicose veins are caused by malfunctioning one-way valves within the vein. These valves are supposed to help carry blood back toward the heart, but they can become stuck open and let blood pool in the legs and feet. Evansville Surgical Associates offers treatment, including RFA, microphlebectomy, sclerotherapy, Varithena, and VenaSeal.
What Causes Varicose Veins?
You can develop varicose veins for a number of reasons. Some people have a family history of the condition, but it can also be a side effect of standing or sitting for long periods of time. It’s also common for women during pregnancy due to hormonal changes. Talk to your doctor about other risk factors for varicose veins that you may have.
Whatever the initial cause of varicose veins, the result is the same: weak or damaged blood vessels in your legs and feet.
Your leg veins have one-way valves in them that help blood to flow upward toward your heart. They open to let blood through, but close to prevent it from flowing back down. When veins are healthy, blood flows from your heart and circulates throughout your body.
Unfortunately, these one-way valves can malfunction and fail to keep blood flowing back towards your heart. The valves become stuck and are left open, causing blood to pool in your legs and feet. Over time, pressure increases inside your veins. This can result in the telltale dark, bulging varicose veins when left untreated, along with other symptoms.
Other symptoms of varicose veins include:
- Leg cramping at night
- Swelling
- Aching
- Feeling heavy
- Itchines
- Skin discoloration
Treatment for Varicose Veins in Evansville, Indiana
Gone are the days of painful vein stripping that requires staying in the hospital and a long recovery. At Vascular Surgical Associates, we provide you with the highest quality of care. This includes treatment that helps you regain the life you love living.
We offer a full range of minimally invasive treatments for varicose veins. Some use lasers while others utilize foam to treat your symptoms at their source. All of these techniques are minimally invasive, which means that you’ll be back on your feet in no time.
Seeking treatment sooner rather than later can help prevent the side effects of varicose veins. These include problems such as chronic venous insufficiency, blood clots, and deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
Radiofrequency ablations (RFA)
RFA is another common form of minimally invasive varicose vein treatment. With RFA, we use energy from radio frequencies to heat the walls of the vein, which results in the safe closure of the vein wall. The now-closed veins gradually disappear as they’re no longer functioning in the body. A small tube is used to perform the procedure, and it can be performed on large veins or in an office setting under local anesthesia.
Microphlebectomy (ambulatory phlebectomy)
Microphlebectomy is ideal for the dark, bulging veins under the surface of the skin associated with varicose veins. These veins are usually too twisted for RFA to be effective. In this procedure, the vein is removed little by little using a small hook-like tool that is inserted through tiny pinholes made in the skin.
This process is still much more preferable to vein stripping since the holes are so small and general anesthesia isn’t necessary. Just like other forms of modern varicose vein treatment, scalpels and stitches aren’t necessary. Local anesthesia is enough to lessen any pain or discomfort during the procedure, but general anesthesia can be used if you prefer it.
Sclerotherapy
With sclerotherapy, we inject a special foam into your damaged blood vessels to seal them off and rid you of your painful symptoms. These injections are able to treat large areas of the vein in the shortest amount of time. They do wonders for removing the hidden origins of your symptoms, as well.
Sclerotherapy is often used in combination with other forms of varicose vein treatment. RFA and microphlebectomy are popular combinations. This allows it to relieve your symptoms from deep varicose veins. At the same time, it lowers your risk of new, superficial (shallow or visible) varicose veins.
Varithena
Varithena is a unique type of foam used in sclerotherapy treatment. Unlike other types of sclerotherapy treatment, Varithena uses a special device that gives us more control over the foam. This gives our surgeons the ability to maximize the contact between the vein walls and the foam for more effective results.
VenaSeal
VenaSeal is a cutting-edge adhesive used to close any veins that have become varicose and problematic. It focuses specifically on the saphenous vein, a large vein located in your thigh. As VenaSeal works, your body treats the closed-up vein as scar tissue and causes it to gradually fade from sight.
Varicose Vein Prevention Tips
To prevent varicose veins, it’s important to maintain good circulation and avoid habits that put excess pressure on your legs. Try to avoid standing or sitting for long periods of time. Take regular breaks if your job requires it. During this time, elevate your legs above your heart for 15 minutes at a time several times throughout the day to improve blood flow.
You can treat your symptoms at home. If you sit or stand for long periods, then try to take breaks where you walk or sit, depending on what you spend most of your time doing. Regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, and wearing compression stockings can also help.
Making these lifestyle changes can support healthier veins and reduce your risk. People who have varicose veins should follow these tips to prevent worsening symptoms and avoid discomfort.
Are you ready to treat your varicose vein symptoms at their source? Call us today at (812) 424-8231 or (800) 264-8231 to schedule your appointment!
Varicose veins can have many causes, but they can result from malfunctioning valves in your veins. When they malfunction, these one-way valves become stuck open, causing blood to pool in your legs and feet. Multiple treatment options are available, including RFA microphlebectomy, sclerotherapy, Varithena, and VenaSeal. They treat your symptoms at their source.
Vascular Surgical Associates has been providing comprehensive and compassionate surgical care for over 50 years. Call us at (812) 424-8231 or (800) 264-8231 to contact us or schedule an appointment. We are available from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time.
