Then, branch vessels of the vein which are close to the skin's surface become enlarged and appear twisted and ropelike. Currently, hundreds of thousands of operations are done for varicose veins a year in the United States. Varicose vein sufferers either get surgery to remove the vein, or injection therapy to close it up. Surgical ligation, or removal of the saphenous vein in the leg, fails about 10 percent of the time. Patients are required to be placed under anesthesia, there is a two-week recovery period, and it often takes a second procedure to really see results.
Many patients experience pain, bruising and scarring as side effects of the surgery.
Another technique used to battle varicose veins is ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy, which involves injecting an irritant into the saphenous vein to close it up. It only works permanently about 50 percent of the time. Details on Procedure To be a candidate for EVLT, a patient must have varicose veins that are the result of an incompetent saphenous vein. A patient comes in lies on an examining table and has an IV placed in their saphenous vein at knee level. The skin is just nicked when a laser fiber is inserted into the vein, and it goes up to the groin area.