Early diagnosis of varicose vein disease leads to simpler treatments and better outcomes

Peninsula Vascular CenterApr 21 2010

Varicose vein disease is an underappreciated and often misunderstood medical condition, causing many individuals to be misdiagnosed, mistreated - or ignored - resulting in needless suffering and complications from progressively worsening symptoms. Unfortunately, patients typically wait until the disease reaches a more difficult to treat and debilitating stage: they have lifestyle limiting pain, unsightly bulging veins and spider veins, leg swelling or skin ulceration. Physicians typically receive little formal training about the diagnosis and management of patients with vein disease, and patients struggle to find information. Like many medical problems, the earlier the cause of a patient's varicose veins is diagnosed, the simpler are the treatments and the better the outcomes.

The prevalence of varicose veins varies from 30-60% of the American population and increases with age. Douglas Lewis, MD, a board certified Vascular and Interventional Radiologist with over twenty years of clinical experience, says, "It is crucial to better educate physicians and to inform the community about how to detect early stage vein disease and when to seek treatment."

Common misconceptions include:

• Varicose and spider veins are strictly cosmetic issues.
• Varicose vein symptoms - soreness, heaviness, burning, tingling, itching, easy leg fatigue - are inevitable manifestations of ageing, so there's nothing to be done.
• One should wait as long as possible before seeking treatment in order to "take care of it all at once."
• Women should wait for treatment until after they are done having children.
• Treatment requires painful surgery and prolonged "downtime."

Endovenous laser ablation and sclerotherapy injections are the current standard-of-practice treatments for varicose veins. These are office-based procedures with no patient downtime. During endovenous ablation, a thin laser fiber is threaded directly into the diseased vein where generated heat damages the vein wall and seals the vein, thus rerouting blood flow to healthy veins. Sclerotherapy uses chemicals to accomplish the same thing. These are extremely effective, very low risk procedures.