Coastal Georgia Vein Center: Dr. Greg Martin

Causes and treatment of varicose veins.

Varicose Veins

Varicose veins are large, bulging veins on the legs. Like spider veins, they are caused by leaky valves in your leg veins that allow blood to fall down your leg, instead of flowing briskly up your leg toward the heart as it should.

Varicose veins are typically more of a concern than spider veins, both medically and cosmetically. But, like spider veins, the methods for treating them have dramatically improved in the last decade.

An experienced vein specialist should usually be able to clear those unsightly critters in a single treatment session. This is in contrast to spider vein therapy, where we typically clear only about 70 percent of the abnormal veins in a single session.

Out with the old

The vein-stripping and high-ligation surgery techniques that physicians used for many decades to treat varicose veins are now considered obsolete. It’s a good thing, because they had several drawbacks:

They usually required a stay in a hospital or ambulatory care center, which added considerably to the expense.

They required the use of general or spinal anesthesia. This further increased the costs, posed some additional risks, and lowered patients’ post-operation energy levels. Because of the severity of the procedures, many patients could not return to work for several weeks.

They frequently involved considerable pain and left disfiguring leg scars.

Patients had a surprisingly high rate of recurrence of disease. After enduring considerable discomfort and inconvenience, they stood as much as an 80 to 90 percent chance of getting varicose veins again sometime during their lifetime.

Dr. Martin’s state-of-the-art treatment methods

Fortunately, the situation has dramatically improved. The newer endovenous thermal ablation techniques used by Dr. Martin, which typically utilize either laser or radio-frequency (RF) energy, offer a host of advantages over the old sclerotherapy and vein-stripping approaches.

Advantages of the new techniques:

They’re usually performed in Dr. Martin's office under local anesthesia. This dramatically decreases costs, improves convenience, and shortens recovery time.

Since local anesthesia entails fewer risks, Dr. Martin can be much more comfortable treating you, even if you have minor heart problems or other health issues.

The newer techniques, which utilize needle puncture approaches working through very small catheters under ultrasound guidance, involve considerably less discomfort during and after the procedure than the old vein-stripping procedures.

Because the new procedures are minimally invasive, the risks of complications from wound infections, blood clots, and nerve injuries are significantly lower. Patients usually enjoy faster healing and a substantially improved cosmetic appearance, with virtually no scars.