If your job requires you to sit or stand for long periods of time, you might develop visible spider veins on your legs. In addition, your lifestyle choices can raise your chance of experiencing spider veins, varicose veins, and other vascular issues. At North Texas Vein & Vascular in Flower Mound, Texas, we can improve the appearance of your legs by providing you with a spider vein treatment.
How Long Does Spider Vein Treatment Take?
We can use sclerotherapy to improve your spider veins and other vascular problems. This spider vein treatment uses a special solution to remove damaged veins from your legs.
Receiving Your Treatments
We will perform your sclerotherapy treatments at our comfortable office in Flower Mound. Since we will adapt your sessions to fit the condition of your veins, the total length of your appointments will vary.
If you have a large number of spider veins on your legs, your appointments will take longer to complete. That said, each of your sclerotherapy sessions will usually last for less than 30 minutes. This is an outpatient treatment, and you’ll be able to leave our office once we have finished injecting our solution into your spider veins.
Completing Your Treatment Plan
Although sclerotherapy is a very effective way to remove spider veins, you will usually need to get several treatment sessions. In general, we will advise you to receive two to four sclerotherapy treatments.
Seeing Improvements in Your Veins
Our special solution will take some time to remove your spider veins. After we inject our solution into your body, the walls of your spider veins will become inflamed. Over time, your weakened blood vessels will slowly turn into scar tissue, and your spider veins will become less noticeable.
After you receive your initial session, up to 75% of the spider veins in your treatment area will improve. Your veins will continue to fade as you receive additional sclerotherapy sessions. It will usually take about three to six months to see the full impact of your treatment plan.
What Are Spider Veins?
Spider veins are weakened blood vessels that are purple, blue, or red. These veins can appear on your ankles, calves, or thighs. Sometimes, your damaged veins will appear in a central location on your legs. These weakened vessels may create a pattern that looks similar to the thin strands in spiders’ webs. Alternatively, you can develop isolated spider veins that are not connected to other blood vessels.
Generally, spider veins will not cause you to experience mobility issues or other physical symptoms. However, these damaged vessels can occasionally cause you to experience itchy sensations, heavy feelings in your legs, cramps, and other problems.
Why Do I Have Spider Veins on My Legs?
There are several factors and variables that will increase your chance of developing visible spider veins on your legs.
Your Job
Some jobs require you to stand for long periods of time. Alternatively, you might spend most of your day sitting down and working on your computer. Standing or sitting for very long periods of time can put stress on your legs and cause you to develop spider veins in this area of your body.
Going Through Pregnancy
When you are pregnant, your body will go through changes that will put extra pressure on your veins. In addition, your changing hormones can weaken your veins. As a result, you might develop spider veins and other vascular issues during your pregnancy. Sometimes, these problems will continue after you give birth.
Your Weight
Gaining weight will require your veins to work harder to move blood throughout your body. In addition, living a sedentary lifestyle can damage your circulation. These problems can cause spider veins to form in your legs.
Your Age
Although you can develop spider veins at any age, you will become increasingly likely to experience this problem as you get older. As you age, your veins will become more vulnerable.
Your Gender
If you are female, you will have a higher chance of developing spider and varicose veins during your lifetime. You will produce higher amounts of progesterone. This hormone will change the condition of your veins and makes these blood vessels more susceptible to damage.
Am I Eligible for Sclerotherapy Treatments?
If you have spider or varicose veins on your legs, you’ll probably be able to use sclerotherapy treatments to fix this issue. Before we treat your spider veins, we will ask you to visit our office in Flower Mound for an initial consultation. During your personalized consultation, we will look at your spider veins and talk about your health.
You should not get sclerotherapy while you are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you have recently given birth, you will need to give your body ample time to recover before you begin your spider vein treatment. In addition, you may not be able to receive sclerotherapy treatments if you have a bleeding disorder or other significant health condition.
Will I Have Any Downtime After I Receive My Sclerotherapy Treatment?
You won’t need to use up any vacation or personal days after you receive your sclerotherapy treatment. Since this is a minimally invasive technique, you will be able to drive yourself back to your house after we finish improving your spider veins.
Elevating Your Legs
You will need to follow some rules after we improve your veins. In particular, we will advise you to stay mobile after you receive your treatments. If you are going to be inactive for a long time, you should elevate your legs. Keeping your legs in the right position will stop blood from pooling in your spider veins.
You should continue to elevate your legs for seven days after you get your sclerotherapy treatment. Although you should elevate your legs while you are sitting or resting during the day, you don’t need to keep your legs elevated at night.
Wearing Compression Stockings
You will need to wear a special set of compression stockings for 24 hours after your treatment. During the next two weeks, you should continue wearing your stockings during the day. You can take your stockings off while you are sleeping.
Will My Sclerotherapy Treatments Permanently Fix My Spider Veins?
Under most circumstances, your sclerotherapy treatments will permanently remove some of the spider veins in your target area. However, you need to understand that we cannot stop your body from developing additional spider veins in the future. If you develop new spider veins after you complete your treatment plan, you can fix this issue by receiving more sclerotherapy sessions.
Can Men Develop Spider Veins?
Many people think that only women develop spider veins, varicose veins, and other vascular problems. Although women are more likely to develop spider veins as they age, men and women can suffer from this cosmetic problem. In fact, almost 45% of men will experience a vascular problem by the time they reach the age of 60. Like women, men will be more likely to experience vein problems if they sit or stand for long periods.
If you are a man who has spider veins or varicose veins, you should think about using sclerotherapy, compression stockings, and other treatments to address this vascular issue. Correcting this problem will restore your confidence and relieve the negative symptoms that are associated with your vascular issue.
Will My Health Insurance Pay for My Vein Treatments?
Usually, your spider veins will not prevent you from exercising, hiking, or engaging in other physical activities. As a result, your insurance provider probably will not pay for you to use sclerotherapy to correct this aesthetic issue.
That said, some vascular problems can cause you to develop cramps and other negative physical symptoms. If you are using one of our vein treatments to improve your comfort level and increase your ability to stay physically active, your insurance provider may contribute to the cost of your treatment.
Can I Use Other Methods to Improve My Vein Issues?
We can use several other techniques to improve your spider veins and correct your vascular problems.
Wearing Compression Stockings
If you are suffering from minor vein problems, we are likely to advise you to start wearing compression stockings. These special support stockings will improve your circulation and vascular system. Although this treatment will not eliminate your spider veins, your stockings can improve your muscle tone and general wellbeing.
In addition to wearing specialized compression stockings, you may need to make lifestyle changes during your treatment. For example, we might advise you to begin a regular exercise program and control your weight.
Receiving Endovenous Laser Ablation
We can also use laser energy to improve your spider veins. During this spider vein treatment, we will put a small catheter into your damaged vein. Next, we will administer local anesthesia into your treatment area. After this anesthesia has numbed the tissues in your target area, we will use the catheter to send laser energy into your spider vein.
The laser energy will seal up your spider vein. Closing this vein will cause your blood to move into healthier veins in your body. Once we have treated the spider veins in your target area, you’ll be able to leave our office and go home. You will typically be able to return to your normal schedule within 24 hours. However, you might need to avoid engaging in tiring physical activities and standing for long periods during the next two weeks.
Using Other Treatments
If your vein issues are very severe, we may advise you to use other methods to fix your vascular problems. For example, if you have large varicose veins, we might advise you to receive an ambulatory phlebectomy. During this treatment, we will make temporary markings near the varicose veins that you would like to remove. Next, we will use local anesthesia to numb your tissues.
Once your legs have become numb, we will make very small incisions near your damaged veins. We will use these incisions to remove these damaged veins from your body. After we have eliminated these varicose veins, we will apply bandages to your skin.
Treat Your Spider Veins
You should not let spider veins or other vascular issues prevent you from feeling confident about the appearance of your thighs, ankles, and calves. Receiving a series of sclerotherapy treatments is a fantastic way to fade these veins and obtain clear, attractive skin. If you are interested in treating your spider veins, you should contact us at North Texas Vein & Vascular in Flower Mound, Texas to set up an initial consultation.
