When your legs are marred by large, twisted varicose veins or even a spread of spider veins, you may dread spring and summer’s shorter styles. The veins on your legs make them look older and unhealthy.
You may even find that these dysfunctional veins cause unpleasant symptoms. Sometimes varicose and spider veins create itching, skin discoloration, and even discomfort when standing or walking.
Whether your concern is mostly aesthetic or mostly about comfort and function, there’s no reason to live with varicose or spider veins. They’re easy to treat and remove with a simple procedure called sclerotherapy.
At The Center for Dermatology Cosmetic & Laser Surgery in Mount Kisco, New York, our skilled dermatologists remove dysfunctional leg veins to transform the look of your legs and get you ready for shorts, skirts, and bathing suits.
Are you ready to rid your legs of visible veins? Here’s how sclerotherapy works.
While you may worry that your body can’t move your blood to vital organs without all your veins and blood vessels, varicose or spider veins mean your circulation is already impeded. These broken veins result from dysfunctional valves that no longer push blood forward efficiently.
Instead, your blood moves a little more slowly or — in some cases — backward. Sometimes, blood pools behind the broken valve, leading the veins to become engorged, stretched, and twisted. That’s the situation that causes varicose veins.
A sclerotherapy treatment is a simple injection that irritates the walls of these broken, dysfunctional veins. The saline or chemicals in the injection cause the vessel walls to collapse, leading your circulation to reroute itself to healthier veins.
Eventually, your body absorbs and excretes the debris from the destroyed veins. Your legs not only look better, but the circulation in them and throughout your body is improved too.
Sclerotherapy is a nonsurgical way to remove dysfunctional veins from your legs. We don’t need to put you under or make an incision.
Instead, you sit comfortably on the treatment table. We first clean the treatment site with an antiseptic. We then inject the broken veins with the sclerotherapy solution.
You may feel a little cramping during the injection, but that should resolve shortly. The entire treatment usually takes just 15-30 minutes.
Your legs may be slightly sore and crampy for a few hours after your treatment. We advise you to refrain from aerobic exercise for several days.
We recommend wearing heavy compression stockings afterward to help control inflammation and swelling. For the first two days after treatment, avoid:
You can control any lingering pain or discomfort with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Your legs may also feel slightly itchy.
Even though sclerotherapy is simple, safe, and nonsurgical, you must be healthy enough to undergo the procedure. During your consultation, we take a medical and personal history and examine your leg veins.
You can’t have sclerotherapy if you’re pregnant. If you had a blood clot previously, you may not be able to get sclerotherapy, although that’s decided on a case-by-case basis.
If you’re eligible for sclerotherapy, we give you pre-treatment instructions. For instance, you should avoid aspirin, ibuprofen, and herbs such as ginger and garlic.
Unveil legs without visible veins this spring and summer by treating your varicose and spider leg veins this winter. Contact us by phone or online form for sclerotherapy today.
