Purple, blue, and red squiggly lines running about on your legs is about as welcome as having the assistant principal attend the prom for your high school student. Spider veins and small leg veins can make you downright hesitant to put on shorts or a skirt, and that’s a crime in sunny California!
Dr. Lavey can take care of those obnoxious veins with sclerotherapy.
What causes spider veins?
Veins are the routes for the blood to return to the heart. And sometimes they have a real fight with gravity. This is especially true in the legs, where the blood needs to go directly up the leg. As we age, the strength of the support tissues and even of the veins themselves can diminish. This can cause the blood to back up and pool in spots. This shows itself in spider and varicose veins. Because spider veins are just below the surface of the skin, they are very visible. Varicose veins are usually larger and deeper.
What is sclerotherapy?
Other than being somewhat of a tongue twister, sclerotherapy is the most effective method for removing unwanted veins on your legs. First developed way back in the 1930s, Dr. Lavey still believes sclerotherapy to be superior to IPL and laser treatments for spider veins.
Sclerotherapy is a simple process. Dr. Lavey uses a very small needle and injects a saline solution into the vein in question. The saline irritates the wall of the vein, much like your mother-in-law irritates you. This irritation causes the vein wall to collapse and shut off any blood in the vein. This minimizes the appearance of the vein instantly, and the body eventually absorbs it. Any blood that was routed through the vein is instantly rerouted to other, healthier veins.
Afterwards
After your sclerotherapy with Dr. Lavey, you will have some bruising at the injection sites. But we usually put your legs in compression stockings that you’ll wear for two weeks during waking hours. This compression improves your results, so most veins need only one injection to disappear.
Now is a great time to get rid of those spider veins before summer. Call Dr. Lavey at 925-820-3633 for an appointment.
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