Vein Clinic

Overview of Vein Treatments

The Vein Clinic at Albany Surgical, PC offers the most advanced vein treatments available, including the VNUS Closure procedure for varicose veins. Your physician will choose the method that is most appropriate for your individual situation, following your evaluation and ultrasound studies, if needed. In many cases, the treatment plan may include a combination of the below methods in order to achieve the best effect for you.

VenaSeal Closure System

What is it? The venous seal closure system is designed to improve the blood flow and relieve symptoms by sealing or closing the diseased the vein. The system delivers a small amount of a specially formulated medical adhesive to the diseased vein. The adhesive permanently seals the vein and blood is rerouted through nearby healthy veins.

The Treatment

Superficial venous reflux disease treatment aims to reduce or stop the backward flow of blood. The following may be prescribed to treat your superficial venous reflux disease. Your doctor can help you decide which treatment is best for you:

• Compression stockings
• Removing diseased vein
• Closing diseased vein (through thermal or non-thermal treatment)

Sclerotherapy – The “Gold Standard” of Spider Vein Treatment

In this rather simple procedure, veins are injected with a sclerosing solution, which causes them to collapse and fade from view. Although this procedure has been used in Europe for more than 50 years, it has only more recently become popular in the United States. The introduction of sclerosing agents that are mild enough to be used in small veins has made sclerotherapy safe, predictable and relatively painless. Extensive spider veins may require multiple treatments to achieve desirable results.

Because spider veins are rarely symptomatic , treatment of spider veins is generally considered to be “cosmetic” in nature. As a result, most commercial insurance and Medicare exclude coverage of the cost of spider vein treatment. Accordingly, we require payment in advance for spider vein treatment. We accept cash, checks and all major credit cards for your conveinance.

As illustrated by the before and after photos below, the results of sclerotherapy are often dramatic:

Sclerotherapy is also often used along with the Closure procedure to treat certain varicose veins. Your doctor will determine which therapy or combination of therapies will best treat your condition. Unlike spider veins, when sclerotherapy is used to treat varicose veins, the cost is often covered by insurance or Medicare.

The vein surgeons of Albany Surgical, PC have performed hundreds of successful sclerotherapy procedures on patients from throughout south Georgia.

VNUS Closure – The Most Advanced Treatment for Varicose Leg Veins

If you suffer from varicose leg veins, VNUS Closure may be the perfect soultion for you. The VNUS Closure procedure is performed in our office under a local anesthetic, which ensures the procedure is virtually painless.

During the Closure procedure, a tiny catheter is placed in the varicose vein under ultrasound guidance. Radiofrequency energy is delivered throught the catheter, causing just enough heat to close or collapse the vein as the catheter is withdrawn. The vein is then reasorbed into the surrounding tissue, resulting in elimination of the unsightly varicose vein, as well as the symptoms you may have experienced.

The cosmetic outcome of the Closure procedure is generally very pleasing, and in most patients the long term result is permanent elimination of the treated vein. Most patients experience very little if any scarring. Best of all, you will be on your feet immediately after the procedure, and back to most normal activities within a day.

If you suffer from varicose vein symptoms, your insurance or Medicare will in most cases cover the majority of the cost of varicose vein treatment. Typicals symptoms include pain, itching, bleeding, swelling and in some cases leg ulcers. We will work with your insurance company to determine what coverage is available for your treatment and obtain advance approval for your treatment if required.

The following patient education video (about 4 minutes in length) provides an overview of the VNUS Closure treatment for varicose veins, along with testimonials of patients that have had the treatment

VeinWave

Veinwave is an electrical desktop device which uses a needle holder and a footpedal. The practitioner identifies the area for treatment and inserts an ultra-fine insulated needle into the needle holder. Different types of vein will require differing techniques but in respect of straight forward linear veins, the treatment it applied subepidermally along its length. This is minimally invasive, literally breaching only the top layers of skin, and should not pierce the vessel. The nickel needles are insulated with a micro sheath so as not to cause advert trauma to the surrounding tissue. The effect of the treatment is ‘instant’ – you see the veins disappearing immediately. Some patients leave the treatment without any real visible sign on the skin, other than the lack of veins, and some with more sensitive skin may suffer minor reddening which should disappear within a few days if not hours. The sensation to most is similar to a warm pin prick, others relate it to a minor sting but which does not linger – often it depends upon the location of the treatment. Either way, any discomfort is said to be incomparable to the pain of some laser based treatments and is undoubtedly more effective.

Immediately after the treatment you can resume everyday activities. Avoid the sun for a couple of days or use sun block. After a few days very small micro-crusts like the marks from a cat scratch can appear where Veinwave has been applied. This is normal and no special care is needed. These will disappear on their own. It is best not to retreat an area for 6 weeks. At that time your practitioner is best able to see if any small veins remain. Once a thread vein has been successfully treated it cannot come back. It is possible to make more thread veins but these too can be treated. Never use Veinwave on self-tanned skin.

Phlebectomy

Phlebectomy is also sometimes referred to as “mini-phlebectomy”, “ambulatory phlebectomy”, or “stab phlebectomy”. It is a simple in-office surgical procedure that is virtually painless and requires no general anesthesia.

Phlebectomy involves removing (under local anesthetic) medium to larger varicose veins near the skin surface by inserting a surgical instrument with a hook into small incisions in the skin and removing a varicose vein in segments. The procedure may be repeated in several spots until all visible varicose veins have been removed.

Phlebectomy may be performed either as a stand alone procedure or in conjunction with VNUS Closure vein ablation treatment or sclerotherapy. Generally, this technique is used in our practice for very small varicose areas, or areas that can not be adequately treated with VNUS Closure or sclerotherapy.