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Venous Disorders

Overview

Venous insufficiency is a condition in which the veins do not efficiently return blood from the lower legs back to the heart. Venous insufficiency can involve one or more veins. The valves in the veins channel the flow of blood toward the heart. When these valves are damaged, the blood leaks and pools in the legs and feet. Symptoms include swelling of the legs and pain in the extremities. Chronic Venous insufficiency is a prolonged condition of incompetent venous circulation and can be associated with discoloration of the skin of the ankles due to accumulation of blood degradation products in the skin.

Varicose Veins

Varicose veins are enlarged, twisted, painful superficial veins resulting from poorly functioning valves.

Vein Surgery is the treatment of choice for larger varicose veins in order to achieve both the desired cosmetic results and to relieve symptoms such as aching, swelling and pain caused by leg varicosities. Today’s surgical techniques for varicose veins require minimal incisions and are performed on an outpatient basis with average recovery time of one week or less. Meticulous effort is made to achieve optimal cosmetic and therapeutic results.

Sclerotherapy is an injection treatment used to eliminate spider veins and small to medium-sized varicose veins. A solution is injected into the problem vein with a very fine needle. The vein wall becomes irritated. Subsequent application of external compression with dressings and prescription gradient compression hose seals the vein wall together. The body breaks down the damaged vein and absorbs it, ultimately eliminating the problem vein. No pre-treatment patient preparation is needed and most patients describe only minimal discomfort. After treatment patients resume normal activities, but are asked to avoid prolonged sitting and standing for 3 days and heavy exercise (weight lifting, running and high impact aerobics) for two weeks. Walking is encouraged after the treatments. Prescription-gradient compression hose are worn for 10 days after each treatment.

Texas Surgical Associates