Varicose veins treatment
Are you a candidate for varicose veins treatment?
- Author: Dr Nishath Altaf
- First published: 20 April 2023
Varicose veins Perth
What are varicose veins?
Do you have varicose veins and are you looking into whether you should seek treatment or not? In this article, I explain who is a suitable candidate for varicose vein treatment, and if you are unsure you can find out yourself by answering 5 short questions.
Varicose veins are prominent, swollen, tortuous and enlarged veins, mainly found in your legs. In some cases, they can be painful and uncomfortable. There are five main reasons why people have varicose veins and there are several treatment types, from minimally-invasive treatment to open surgery.
I have summarised four main varicose veins treatment types and their outcomes here:
- Open surgery – stripping of varicose veins
- Endovenous laser ablation
- Venaseal glue ablation
- Sclerotherapy
I offer all treatment types, including open surgery which may be covered by your private health insurance.
Candidate varicose veins treatment
Are you a candidate for varicose vein treatment?
Most people that I see have large, unsightly, tortuous varicose veins and in some cases these veins are painful. Here are the main reasons why people choose to have treatment for varicose veins:
- You want to be able to wear shorts or skirts without worrying about covering your bulging veins
- You are in pain or feeling discomfort
- You have had deep vein thrombosis or phlebitis
- You want to reduce or avoid the risk of blood clots
- You have had one or more of the following issues:
- Bleeding
- Skin changes over the veins
- Skin changes around the ankles – including discolouration and thickening of the skin
- Eczema over the legs
- Leg ulcers
What causes you not to be a good candidate for varicose veins treatment?
- You are pregnant: During pregnancy, there is a lot of pressure that builds up in the veins resulting in varicose veins. Most of the veins will disappear after childbirth. Therefore, we treat most patients conservatively during pregnancy – and review them after childbirth to consider varicose vein intervention.
- You are unable to walk or are bedridden – then surgery is not appropriate.
- You have a blood clot – then surgery may not be appropriate – but that is dependent on where the blood clot is.
- You have a severe infection – then surgery may not be appropriate – however, treatment may be required for your varicose veins after the infection has been treated. This may decrease the chance of you getting an infection in your legs again.
Check here if you are a good candidate for varicose veins treatment with Dr Altaf.
Age and varicose veins treatment Perth
Does my age matter?
Varicose Vein Specialist Perth
Previously, when open surgery was the main procedure to treat varicose veins, it was harder to treat older patients as they had other medical problems. It sometimes made it difficult to safely carry out surgery.
But over the last few years, minimally invasive surgery options have become more available, which means that most patients can be treated using local anaesthesia. Options include:
Varicose Vein Specialist Perth