Before considering having a procedure done to surgically
treat your varicose veins, keep in mind that most varicose
vein problems can be treated without resorting to an
invasive operation. In fact, if your varicose veins do not
respond to the following commonly prescribed treatments for
varicose veins then it is possible that the varicose veins
are a symptom of a much more serious problem such as
obesity, impending stroke or a heart condition. This is why
it is so important for you to try elevation and compression
treatments before you resort to surgery.

Varicose veins develop as a result of gravitational
forces. This may just be due to simple aging. To counteract
this doctors may prescribe that the legs be elevated above
the heart for a prescribed period of time during the day in
order to help the blood trapped in the veins return to the
heart for oxygenation.

In addition to the elevation of the legs most doctors will
prescribe a regimen of walking or aerobic exercise as well
as the application of a compression bandage that winds
around the affected area. This helps decrease the volume
of blood trapped in the legs and over time makes the veins
shrink.

So, before you spend a lot of money on an operation, make
sure you try the above solutions first as both elevation
and compression treatments have a higher success rate and
show quicker results than surgery.

The most common surgical procedure used to correct
varicose veins is called sclerotherapy. This is a procedure
that is used to decrease the visibility of spider veins
that mostly occur on the legs but can occur on other places
of the body as well. Before having this operation you
should also be aware that it could be very uncomfortable
because basically an irritant is injected into the veins to
induce an inflammatory response. This causes the veins to
shrink. You should also be aware that sclerotherapy only
works on tiny veins and not larger ones.

You should also realize that one quarter of patients that
do receive sclerotherapy also end up with a hyper
pigmentation on their legs around the injection sites,
which may be as objectionable to look at as the varicose
veins.

You might also experience a phenomenon known as vein
matting, which means that tiny clusters of veins around the
site of the injection area could turn blue. Unfortunately
this is because sometimes the attempt to remove one
varicose vein creates several smaller ones. Sometimes these
veins can be treated with another injection but the success
rate of this treatment is very low.

If you do opt for sclerotherapy keep in mind that your
legs may be red, discolored or bruised for a couple of
weeks after the injections. In fact your legs may look
worse than they did in the first place so don't get this
operation with the expectation that you will look better in
a bathing suit after a few days. Like most plastic
surgeries, sclerotherapy is not a quick fix for varicose
veins.


About the Author
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(c) 2005 Kelly Altodona - All Rights Reserved

Kelly Altodona is a cosmetic surgery freelance author.

http://www.CosmeticSurgeryLinks.com
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