Many people don’t fully grasp the seriousness of varicose veins, and how compromised veins put them at risk of deep vein thrombosis, or blood clots. People tend to think of varicose veins as an unsightly or painful annoyance, but don’t appreciate that the reason the veins became compromised in the first place has not been addressed, and the varicose veins themselves may remain untreated for many years or even a lifetime.
About a quarter of adults have varicose veins in their legs, causing symptoms like a sensation of heaviness, aching legs, restless legs, cramping during the night, and swollen legs at the end of the day. A person may not realise that their experience is one of varicose veins, and put the symptoms down to age or genetics, and dismiss the serious situation as a mere cosmetic annoyance.
A vein that doesn’t work as it used to – an incompetent vein – puts people at risk of blood clots and skin ulcers that don’t heal.
Diagnosing and treating varicose veins
When we see patients at our Melbourne clinic with varicose veins, we perform a complete examination and take a thorough medical history, with ultrasounds of both legs, down to the deep layers. We’ll discuss your symptoms and how long they have been occurring for, so we can get a broad picture of your health and varicose veins.
There are grades of varicose veins, ranging from no disease to ulcers, which is the extreme end of the spectrum. Varicose veins don’t rapidly evolve, so usually the problems have been around for quite some time before people seek help.
We start off with therapy that is the least invasive for patients, which might include compression stockings, elevating legs, and light exercise like walking. We may recommend a three-month trial of light therapies and see if we can improve your condition without deeper treatments, like sclerotherapy.
What is sclerotherapy?
Sclerotherapy is one of modern medicine’s success stories, a varicose vein treatment that has stood the test of time. Sclerotherapy involves injecting the vein with a special solution that irritates the sides of the vein so it collapses and removes itself from circulation, so to speak. The varicose vein cells will then be scavenged by the body in its normal process of eliminating dead cells.
There may be several varicose vein treatments required, depending on the severity and number of varicose veins in the legs. Both legs can be treated at once.
Sclerotherapy is a very effective treatment for varicose veins and spider veins at our Melbourne dermatologist clinic, where we are highly trained and experienced in performing effective sclerotherapy for varicose veins.
We inject each varicose vein one by one, and then over the coming week or so, the varicose vein will start to close over, redirecting blood flow into healthy veins. Sclerotherapy works extremely well most of the time, is largely comfortable, and requires only a little aftercare.
We can clear your legs of varicose veins and spider veins.
Contact our Melbourne clinic to make an appointment
