At Renaissance Plastic Surgery we use sclerotherapy to make your spider veins go away.
One of the true markers of the passage of time is the appearance of clusters of tiny red, purple, and blue lines on our thighs, calves, and ankles. Their weblike appearance gives them their name — spider veins. While not painful in most cases, spider veins are certainly a pain when they start showing up.
Fortunately, they’re easy to take care of. At Renaissance Plastic Surgery we use sclerotherapy to make your spider veins go away. Call (636) 896-0600 today to schedule a consultation with our expert plastic surgeons and learn whether you are a candidate for treatment!
A quick lesson in the human vascular system explains why they develop. Veins return deoxygenated blood to the heart. In the legs, the veins face an uphill battle, fighting gravity the entire way. When we’re young, the muscles and tissues surrounding our veins help push the blood, but as we age these tissues weaken and don’t provide the same support. The vein walls also weaken. This allows blood to pool. When the veins are close to the surface, they can be seen through the outer skin. These are spider veins. Other factors that can lead to a person developing these veins are jobs that require prolonged sitting or standing, heredity, weight fluctuations, pregnancy, and hormonal changes. Spider veins are more common for women and can usually be found on the thighs, ankles, and calves. They can also develop on the cheeks.
What is the advantage of using sclerotherapy for spider veins?
How many sclerotherapy treatments will I need for my spider veins?
How do I care for my skin after spider vein treatment?
Are there risks or side effects with sclerotherapy?
Does sclerotherapy hurt?
Are my sclerotherapy results permanent?
Is there recovery after spider vein treatment?
We offer two treatment options for the treatment of spider veins to the legs. Sclerotherapy is the injection of a sclerosing agent into the vessel causing the vessel to close and then is absorbed by your body over the course of several weeks. Sclerotherapy typically takes multiple treatments to reach optimal results. Laser therapy can also be used on leg veins but is better used on the smaller vessels to legs and ankles. Spider veins or broken blood vessels to the face are typically treated with laser therapy. Clear V is used in a similar manner as sclerotherapy using laser heat and light to close the vessels. Like sclerotherapy, the vessels dissipate over the course of several weeks and typically requires multiple treatments.
Most spider vein clusters dramatically lessen in appearance instantly with the injection of the sclerosant solution. Then the body fully removes them over the next few weeks. For most veins, multiple treatments are needed.
There aren’t any special skin care requirements after these treatments.
Sclerotherapy has been around since the 1930s and has been used to treat tens of millions of spider veins. It continues to be the treatment method of choice, with a very low risk of reactions to the sclerosant solution. After your session, you may have some redness at the injection sites and possibly some minor irritation, but this passes quickly. There may be some slight bruising from the injections, but this resolves within a week or so.
Our nurses at Renaissance Plastic Surgery use very tiny needles for your sclerotherapy, and the injections are not made to any great depth because spider veins are close to the surface of the skin. These factors make each injection feel akin to little more than a pinprick. They are not painful, and the treatment only takes a few minutes.
The spider veins we close off with sclerotherapy will be scavenged by the body and will disappear. They are gone for good. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee you won’t form new spider veins down the road, but the veins we treat are permanently removed.
There isn’t any recovery. If we remove a series of spider veins, we’ll want you to wear a compression hose for one week. This helps the body start the process of absorbing the closed-off veins. Otherwise, walking and moderate exercise are fine immediately after your procedure. You should avoid any really strenuous exercise for about one week, however.
