The Vein Center in Texas Answers FAQs

What are varicose veins and spider veins?

Spider veins are dense clusters of reddish or bluish blood vessels that appear on the skin’s surface. They never bulge out of the skin’s surface, but they often expand outwards and grow more numerous with time. Varicose veins are dense and bulging leg veins that look like twisted, tangled, and knotted ropes, usually reddish, bluish, or skin-colored. Varicose veins and spider veins are essentially damaged blood vessels, usually symptomatic of chronic venous insufficiency.

Why do I have bulging veins on my legs?

You have bulging veins on your legs because of an underlying medical condition known as chronic venous insufficiency. Healthy leg veins contain valves that act as one-way doors, allowing blood to flow towards the heart but not backward. When your vein valves collapse or malfunction, blood flows backward and accumulates in the leg veins, leading to vascular dilation and the eventual formation of varicose veins and spider veins.

What are the most common vein diseases?

Venous insufficiency is a chronic medical condition that gradually worsens with time. At the initial stages, vein disease will lead to minor symptoms, such as leg heaviness, restless leg syndrome, throbbing leg veins, frequent leg cramps, and leg swelling. As blood continues accumulating in your leg veins, you may experience numerous vein diseases, such as leg ulcers, skin discoloration, and deep vein thrombosis, a condition wherein blood clots form inside your leg veins.

Can I treat varicose veins and spider veins with home remedies?

No, you cannot treat varicose veins and spider veins with home remedies. Varicose veins and spider veins are symptomatic of a circulatory disorder known as chronic venous insufficiency. As such, the only way to treat the superficial symptoms is to stop the underlying leakage, i.e., remove the diseased saphenous vein with the collapsed vein valves. That can only be accomplished through minimally invasive vein treatment options, so you need to schedule an appointment at a vein center.

While you can’t treat varicose veins and spider veins with home remedies, you can make some lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of preventing it from spreading further. The following lifestyle changes might improve the symptoms of vein disease:

• Engage in exercises that work your calf muscles, such as running, swimming, and cycling.
• Wear compression stockings to push accumulated blood towards the heart.
• Elevate your legs above your heart’s level while sitting to facilitate optimal blood flow.
• Take short walking breaks after every 30 minutes to maintain optimal blood circulation.

How do vein specialists diagnose vein disease?

If you have the signs and symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency, you must find a vein doctor specializing in vascular imaging and ultrasound scans. The vein doctor will examine your leg veins and discuss your symptoms, such as leg heaviness, restless leg syndrome, and frequent leg cramps. The vein doctor will also administer vascular imaging tests, wherein ultrasound energy is used to visualize the blood flow in your leg veins. The direction of blood flow will reveal the presence or absence of chronic venous insufficiency.

What are my spider vein and varicose vein treatment options?

You should only look for state-of-the-art vein centers that provide minimally invasive spider vein and varicose vein treatment options. Minimally invasive procedures are safer and more effective than surgical treatments. They usually conclude within an hour, involve no hospitalization or downtime, and have a negligible risk of complications. As such, if a vein center recommends surgical treatments, you’re better off finding another vein center. The vein center should also provide vein treatments based on your diagnostic results.

If you have chronic venous insufficiency, the vein doctor should recommend radiofrequency ablation, endovenous laser ablation, or venaseal. During the ablation treatments, the vein doctor makes a small incision on the skin’s surface to channel radiofrequency waves or laser energy via a catheter. The diseased vein collapses, and the accumulated blood reroutes into healthier leg veins. VenaSeal treatment involves injecting a medical adhesive into the diseased vein to seal it shut.

If you don’t have vein disease or after the primary vein treatment, the vein doctor should recommend ambulatory phlebectomy or sclerotherapy. During ambulatory phlebectomy, the vein doctor makes small incisions on the skin’s surface to extract the superficial varicose veins, improving your leg’s appearance. During sclerotherapy, the vein doctor injects a medicine called sclerosant into the spider veins, turning them into hardened scar tissues that eventually get absorbed by the body.

If you have spider veins, varicose veins, or other signs and symptoms of vein disease, please schedule an appointment at our vein center in Texas.