What used to afflict GrandMa is starting to effect twenty and thirty-somethings.
Varicose veins used to be the problem of the elderly. The ugly, purple, twisting veins weren't found in younger generations.
Now, as more people are making their career in high-tech industries — with the accompanying sitting — doctors are seeing younger people come in for varicose vein treatment.
The good news is that therapy isn't what it used to be. In the "old days," surgery would be performed under general anesthesia, and a sufferer could expect full recovery to last several weeks.
Now treatment can be done during lunch hour and doesn't mean a lengthy hospital stay or an even longer, painful recovery. Thanks to newer, non-invasive, procedures, varicose veins are usually treated on an outpatient basis.
Self-Care
Self-care includes exercise, losing weight and elevating your legs as well as not standing — or sitting — for extended periods of time.
Compression Stockings
Often the initial approach tried before moving to other treatments. Compression stockings gently, but steadily, squeeze your legs and help the veins be more efficient in moving blood.
More-Severe Varicose Veins
Failure to respond to self-care or compressions stockings may result in a varicose vein treatment such as Sclerotherapy.
In Sclerotherapy treatment, your physician injects small to medium sized varicose veins with a solution those closes the veins. In several weeks, treated varicose veins will fade.
While the same vein may have to be injected multiple times, sclerotherapy if effective when done properly. Sclerotherapy is done in your physician's office and without anesthesia.
Other Treatments
Foam Sclerotherapy
Used in large veins, a foam solution is injected into the vein to seal and close a vein. Foam sclerotherapy is a newer treatment.
Laser
Physicians also are using new treatment in the form of laser therapy to close smaller veins as well as "spider veins". Laser surgery works by using powerful bursts of light which causes the vein slowly fade. No incisions are used.
Catheter-Assisted
Catheter-assisted procedures use radiofrequency or laser energy. The physician places a thin tube into an enlarged vein and heats the catheter's tip. As the catheter is pulled out, the heat destroys the vein by making it collapse and seal.
Ambulatory Phlebectomy
The physician removes smaller veins through a series of skin punctures. Only the areas in the leg that are being priced are numbed in this outpatient procedure.
Alternative Treatments
Several alternative treatments may be helpful for chronic venous insufficiency — a condition connected to varicose veins. These therapies include:
* Butcher's broom
* Grape
* Horse chestnut
* Sweet clover
As usual, be sure to speak with a medical professional before trying any herb to make sure the products are safe and won't interfere with any medicines you may be taking.
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