Diagnosis of Spider Veins and Venous Insufficiency
Self-Evaluation
If you are starting to see spider veins and varicose veins bulging on your lower limbs or have been experiencing aching or tired legs, you may be dealing with a vein disease and should look for a “spider vein center near me SD” to seek treatment from a vein doctor in the San Diego area. Vein disease can cause heaviness or aching, especially towards the end of the day, when you have been up and about, allowing more blood to make its way down to the legs. This also leads to leg fatigue and swelling in the feet or ankles. The spider veins and varicose veins may itch, burn, or throb, and can be tender to the touch.
If you’re not sure if you are experiencing anything out of the ordinary, think back to what your legs looked and felt like five or ten years ago. Ask yourself if your legs are noticeably more tired or achy at the end of the day than they used to be. Many people tend to think that all of these signs and symptoms are just normal experiences with aging, but venous insufficiency and spider veins can be treated! Going to a vein clinic is the best way to get to the root of the problem and be on your way to relief. It is important to listen to your body and take note of the signs and symptoms you are experiencing, then get in contact with a spider vein treatment center to find a specialist in venous medicine.
Evaluation at a Vein Center
At a spider vein treatment center, the vein doctor will check both your large and small saphenous veins for issues with the valves, which can lead to blood flow in the wrong direction. This is known as venous reflux or venous insufficiency. After this evaluation, the vein doctor will check for the symptoms that weren’t originally reported (such as itchy or burning veins, aching legs, swelling, etc.) to make sure that insurance will cover the costs for a doctor-recommended treatment plan.
Treating the Root Cause – Saphenous Veins
After the initial evaluation at the vein clinic, the vein doctor will close down the saphenous veins, which are the underlying veins for most blood flow problems, through one of many treatment options. Although treatment for varicose veins and spider veins used to be exclusively through surgical procedures, medical innovation has brought us to a time in which we can treat varicose veins and spider veins through minimally-invasive treatments. There are multiple treatment options, including VenaSeal, Radiofrequency Ablation, and Varithena. These are all minimally-invasive, low-risk, take less than an hour to perform, and have no recovery time after leaving the vein center.
VenaSeal is essentially a vein adhesive that is used to close the saphenous vein in the leg that causes varicose veins, and doesn’t require any injection of local anesthetic. Once the adhesive is administered to the vein, the VenaSeal glue acts almost instantaneously to seal the diseased vein, which will eventually reroute the blood automatically through the healthy veins in your legs.
Radiofrequency ablation is another non-surgical minimally invasive treatment that starts with the administration of a local anesthetic, followed by the insertion of a catheter into the unhealthy vein using an ultrasound. Once the numbing solution is delivered to the length of the vein, the catheter is activated and thermal energy is delivered to the walls of the vein to close them down.
Varithena is a pre-made sclerotherapy foam and is injected into the vein to reduce the appearance and symptoms of varicose veins
Treating the Visible Surface Veins and Rerouting Blood Flow
Veins throughout the body have one-way valves that ensure that blood makes its way to the heart but doesn’t flow back out to the limbs. When the valves in the veins become leaky and cause venous reflux, vein doctors close the saphenous veins as explained above, then reroute the blood through healthier veins to restore the proper direction of blood flow.
To improve the appearance of the spider veins on the surface, the vein doctor will use sclerotherapy to fix the visible spider veins. It is a non-surgical minimally-invasive treatment that uses tiny needles to inject medicine that significantly improves the appearance of spider veins in just one month. Similar to the treatments mentioned above, the entire procedure takes less than a half-hour and causes minimal discomfort. You can go home or back to work after the procedure at the vein treatment clinic because there is no anesthesia or recovery time involved.
If you are looking for a “spider vein center near me SD” with doctors you can trust, the San Diego Vein Treatment Clinic with Dr. Billy Schoenfield and Dr. Carly Guthrie is the place for you! They are both Harvard-trained and double board-certified vein doctors who are highly experienced and well-versed in vein care. They are kind and approachable, and prioritize patient care above all else, as they strive to provide everyone who sets foot in their vein treatment center with a pleasant visit.
Our clinic in San Diego is located in a beautiful neighborhood called La Jolla, near the Torry Pines Beach State Park and Westfield UTC Shopping Center. End your search for a “spider vein center near me SD” and set up an appointment to come visit us! You can call our office, where a friendly staff member would be happy to speak with you, or book an appointment online.