Spider Veins and Treatment
What are Spider Veins?
Millions of people are bothered by spider veins – small yet unsightly clusters of red, blue or purple veins that generally appear on the thighs, calves and ankles. In fact, it’s estimated that about half of the adult female population is plagued with this common cosmetic problem.
Spider veins are similar to varicose veins, but much smaller and closer to the surface of the skin than varicose veins. They can look like tree branches or spider webs with their short jagged lines. Spider veins can cover a small or large area of skin, but unlike varicose veins generally do not protruding from the skin. Even though spider veins individually are very small, the tendency to occur in clusters makes them very visible and unsightly.
While the exact cause of spider veins is not certain, pregnancy, obesity, hormonal changes, inherited factors, and exposure to the sun are believed to contribute to their formation.
While spider veins may be helped by elastic support hose, this alone will neither eliminate existing spider veins nor prevent new ones from forming. The good news is that most spider veins can be successfully treated with good cosmetic results. While new spider veins may continue to form after successful treatment, these may also be eliminated by additional “touch up” treatments.
Treatment Of Spider Veins
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.
Click below to learn more about our vein treatment options at Albany Surgical.
