Care for Varicose Veins and Spider Veins

Varicose veins aren’t just a cosmetic problem. These enlarged, purple, twisted veins, which are typically found in the legs, can also cause pain. But you don’t have to live with the discomfort. Grand View Health offers minimally invasive procedures that can make varicose veins and spider veins disappear. Our experts can even help you stop them from happening again.

What are Varicose Veins?

Veins that run up and down your legs play a vital role in your circulation. When they work properly, these veins help promote blood flow to your heart. But as we age, the valves inside our leg veins begin to weaken, which can cause blood to pool inside the vein. When this happens, the veins bulge out from the skin and become blue or purple in color, creating varicose veins.

Most often, varicose veins affect older women—but they can happen in men, too. People sometimes also develop spider veins, which are smaller red and blue veins that may look like a spiderweb.

Expert Care for Varicose Veins in Bucks and Montgomery Counties

Some varicose and spider veins cause pain or a feeling of heaviness in your legs. Others cause no symptoms at all. No matter your symptoms, local people can find leading-edge treatment at Grand View Health in Sellersville, Pa.

Vascular surgeon Eric Olivero, MD, with Grand View Health Surgery, is a board-certified, fellowship-trained expert in multiple techniques that treat varicose veins and make them go away for good. Many of these procedures are minimally invasive, which means they only require a small scar. And all are ambulatory, which means you will go home the same day.

Treatments for Varicose Veins at Grand View Health

When you seek treatment for varicose veins, your doctor will likely first recommend conservative treatments. These may include elevating your legs, getting more exercise, or wearing compression stockings to reduce vein swelling and promote healing. If those treatments do not improve your varicose veins, you may benefit from one of these options:

• Radiofrequency ablation
  During this minimally invasive procedure, a surgeon inserts a thin tube (catheter) into the vein. Radiofrequency energy is then sent through the catheter, delivering heat to the vein wall and closing it shut. Most people return to regular activities within 24 hours, and their scars go away within a couple of weeks.
• Ambulatory phlebectomy (stab phlebectomy)
  Phlebectomy removes smaller varicose veins through a series of tiny cuts made in the skin near the vein. Most patients recover quickly, with minimal scarring and no stitches.
• Power trans-luminated phlebectomy
  This procedure is similar to phlebectomy, with one key difference: Your surgeon will use a special light to illuminate the varicose vein from within. This makes affected veins more visible so surgeons can remove them successfully.
• Injection sclerotherapy
  Injection sclerotherapy is one of the most common treatments for varicose veins. Doctors inject a solution into the vein that causes it to seal shut. The vessel will remain in your leg, but over time it will turn into scar tissue and become less visible.
• Saphenous vein stripping and ligation
  Vein stripping is an open surgery that’s still used as needed. During the procedure, your surgeon will make a small incision in the leg or groin, tie off the vein to stop blood flow, then remove the vein. Vein stripping is used specifically on the saphenous veins, which are the main veins that run inside your leg and behind your calf.
• Perforator vein radiofrequency ablation and open ligation
  This combination procedure treats perforator veins, the smaller vessels that connect varicose and spider veins to deeper veins. Your surgeon will use ablation to treat the varicose veins, and then make small incisions to access and stop blood flow from smaller veins.

Meet the Specialist

Locations

Grand View Health Surgery

Sellersville Outpatient Center
915 Lawn Avenue
Suite 203
Sellersville, PA 18960
215-453-3400
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