Venous Therapies
If you have veins that negatively affect your confidence, self-esteem, or quality of life, consider sclerotherapy and other venous therapies. At Southern Vascular of Panama City, LLC, with locations in Downtown Panama City, Panama City Beach, Port St. Joe, and Chipley, Florida, board-certified vascular and endovascular surgeon Ashish Gupta, MD, FACS, RVT, and the team offer office-based minimally invasive options as an outpatient treatment. To schedule an appointment, call the office or book online today.
Venous Therapies
What are Venous diseases?
In patients with venous disease, the internal walls of the leg veins are deteriorated and the small valves are defective and incompetent. When a valve is incompetent, either in the deep or superficial vein system, blood flows backwards towards the foot. This is called reflux. When valves are incompetent in the superficial veins only, the deep veins have to carry more blood towards the heart. To compensate, the veins expand and the valves may not close properly. When this happens, such as in the case of servere varicose veins, the deep vein system may also become incompetent. When blood is no longer pumped effictively from from the lower leg, the peripheral veins will not be emptied even when walking. They remain filled with blood and the pressure in vein will not decrease. This condition is known as chronic venous insufficiency (CVO which may result in edema, skin change and in some cases ulcerations.
Varicose veins are gnarled. Enlarged veins. Any vein may become varicose, but the veins most commonly affected are those in your legs and feet. That’s because standing and walking upright increases the pressure in the veins of your lower body.
For many people, varicose veins and spider veins — a common, mild variation of varicose veins — are simply a cosmetic concern. For other people, varicose veins can cause aching pain and discomfort. Sometimes varicose veins lead to more-serious problems.
Varicose veins may also signal a higher risk of other circulatory problems. Treatment may involve self-care measures or procedures by your doctor to close or remove veins.
How do you treat venous diseases?
Venous insufficiency is neither uncommon nor beign.treatment is aimed at ameliorating the symptoms and, whenever possible, at correcting the underlying abnormality.
No oral medication has yet been proven useful for the treatment of venous disease. Graduated compression is the cornerstone of the modern treatment of venous insufficiency. Surgical or endovenous therapy is commonly reserved for those with discomfort or ulcers refractory to medical management. The primary goal of such therapy is to improve the venous circulation by correcting venous inssuficiency by removing the major reflux pathways. Chronic venous insufficiency treatment may include the following:
Measures to improve blood flow in the leg veins
Methods to help increase blood flow in leg veins include elevating the legs to reduce pressure in the leg veins and compression stockings to apply pressure on the legs and help blood flow. Other methods include keeping the legs uncrossed when sitting and reagular exercise.
Medications
Diurectics (medications used to draw excess fluid from the body through the kidneys) should typically not be used unless there are other separate conditions such as heart failure or kidney disease that are also contributributing to the swelling. Medications that improve the flow of blood through the vessels may be used in combination with compression therapy to help heal leg ulcers. Aspririn can also be used to help ulcers heal.
Sclerotherapy
For patients whose condition is more advances, sclerotherapy may be prescribed. This involves injecting a chemical into the affected veins. The chemical causes scarring in the veins and the body absorbs the scarred veins.
Surgery
Surgery is recommended in fewer than 10% of people with chronic venous insufficiency. Surgical procedures that may be used to treat the condition include:
- Ligation. This procedure involves tying off an affected vein so that blood no longer flows though it. If the vein and/or its values are heavily damaged, the vein will be removed (‘vein stripping”).
- Surgical repair. A vein and/or valves may be surgically repaired, either through an open incision or with the use of a long catheter (hollow tube).
- Vein transplant. This involves transplanting a healthy vein from another body area and replacing the diseased vein with the healthy vein.
- Subfascial endoscopic perforator surgery. A minimally-invasive procedure performed with an endoscope (a small, flexible tube with a light and a lens on the end). The perforator veins ( veins found in the calf area) are clipped.
To learn more about the various treatments for venous diseases, schedule an appointment at Southern Vascular of Panama City, LLC. Call the office or book a consultation online today.