Tag Archives: Pain Free Treatment

Get rid of ugly spider veins, NOW!

Fall is here – but not in San Diego!  For the rest of the country “beach season” is over but here in San Diego we will still be seeing the occasional mini-skirt when Christmas roll around.  Who doesn’t want to feel cool and confident when they’re out and about?  The answer is everyone wants that confidence but many women and men are self-conscious about how they look.  Almost 55% of women reported being uncomfortable with their spider veins.  To doctors they are called telangiectasia but for you they will be those thin thread veins that can range in color from red to blue to purple.

Causes

Venous disease, including telangiectasia (“spider veins”) have a number of potential contributing factors including: body weight, age, and genetics.  Take a look around you, almost everyone will have spider veins to some degree during their life.  You don’t see them?  That’s because spider veins don’t always occur on visible parts of the body, even during beach seasons.  If you are prone or predisposed to spider veins you’ll probably start to see them on your legs and face.  So what happens when you want to take a nice Sunday stroll on the beach?  If you don’t want to be restricted to covering up, if you want to show off your legs, or you just plain don’t want to look at them in the mirror, there are treatments.

Solutions

Spider veins are not difficult to treat, and today’s technology advances have made them pain free in-office procedures that typically take 30-60 minutes.  Here are two of the treatment options that we recommend here at the San Diego Vein Institute:

Laser Therapy

Not all laser treatments are equal.  Here at the San Diego Vein Institute we use the top-of-the-line Nd:YAG laser.  For those of you who want to know all of the details, this stands for neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet.  Essentially it’s a crystal that’s commonly used in the most advanced, most powerful, and most expensive lasers.  The Nd:YAG laser can penetrate the skin and goes right to the veins where it is highly absorbable by blood.  This what creates an optimal treatment for spider veins on sensitive areas like the face without damaging the surrounding skin tissue.  The Nd:YAG laser was also design with patients in mind, they come with a cooling tip which minimizes discomfort and removes the need for anesthetic.

After treatment, the tiny, damaged vessels collapse.  Blood can no longer enter and is routed to neighboring healthy veins. The veins eventually collapse veins and are painlessly reabsorbed by the body leaving no scars or visible marks.

Foam Sclerotherapy

Sclerotherapy is another treatment method we commonly use for the treatment of varicose and spider veins.  The treatment method is different but the results are very similar, causing veins to collapse, blood to be rerouted, and soon the collapsed veins are reabsorbed.  If you research sclerotherapy there will be on name that you see over and over again: Asclera.  So what is Asclera?  It’s the brand name for a chemical called polidocanol.  Patients treated with polidocanol report extremely high levels of satisfaction, thanks to its effectiveness and that it’s pain free for the patient.  Polidocanol is administered through injection directly into the affected vein using a thin needle.  Similar to laser treatments you’re looking at an average treatment time of 30-60 minutes with very little recovery discomfort.

At the San Diego Vein Institute we typically use foam sclerotherapy.  Research has shown that it’s around 7 time more effective than regular sclerotherapy.  Foaming the treating agent allow it to replace the blood in the spider vein rather than mixing with it which yield a more effective treatment.  However, we do have to take extra steps to ensure safe and effective treatment including the use of an ultrasound.  Not only will an ultrasound be used before the treatment it will be used during the procedure.  It is more time consuming for the physician but the ultimate results and patient satisfaction are worth the effort.

Treat Yourself Today

With today’s pain free and quick treatment options there’s no reason to let any cosmetic vein issue bother you any longer.  Enjoy the summer, enjoy the fall, enjoy yourself year round.  To learn more and schedule a free consultation, call the San Diego Vein Office today and as for an appointment.