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How Can Varicose Veins Be Treated? |
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How Can Varicose Veins Be Treated? |
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Wearing compression stockings is often the first and most conservative approach to try before moving on to other treatments. Compression stockings should be put on before getting out of bed in the morning and worn all day. They work by steadily squeezing your legs which helps veins and leg muscles move blood more efficiently, and the pressure will cause less blood to be held in the vessels. Stockings can be custom fit or bought over the counter at a pharmacy or medical supply and both types are available in different degrees of compression. It is generally agreed that wearing support hose long term will not prevent veins from forming or getting worse nor cause those veins you already have to disappear, but you may experience some relief of symptoms while you are wearing them.
Other self-help measures, such as exercising, losing weight, wearing looser clothing, elevating your legs and avoiding long periods of standing or sitting can ease pain and may help slow the progress of the disease. When the use of self help measures no longer provides relief of your discomfort and other symptoms, it may be time to consider more clinical forms of treatment. |
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The choice of therapy depends on the size and location of the veins to be treated. Achieving good results depends on successful treatment of both spider and feeder veins. It is important to start with treating the largest leaking veins in order to eliminate the source of the venous congestion and work down to the spiders. Larger veins such as the greater saphenous may be treated by stripping or sclerotherapy injection under ultrasound guidance. As the veins get smaller they are often treated best with injection sclerotherapy and smallest veins and spiders by the use of "sclero" or a light-based (laser) therapy. A combination of these therapies is often used to achieve optimal results.
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