Veins in the legs tend to worsen with age and become unsightly. However, they can also become medically burdensome, causing pain, swelling, and heaviness. Whether you want your veins gone for aesthetic purposes, or for an improvement in your physical health, there are a few different treatments to address leg vein removal.

Why Do Veins Become Bigger and More Noticeable?

There are a few reasons why veins seem to grow and become more apparent over time. They include:

  • -Hormonal changes
  • -Birth control
  • -Pregnancy
  • -Sun exposure
  • -Obesity
  • -Job requirements

These causes may be more or less influential depending on whether your problem is with varicose veins or spider veins. Varicose veins are the large, bulging veins that are blue in color, while spider veins are smaller and red in color. Standing too long, being overweight, and pregnancy put excessive pressure on the lower half of the body, making it difficult for the veins to fight gravity and transport blood back to the heart. This fight may cause swelling in the veins. Additionally, hormonal changes weaken the elasticity of vein walls, exacerbating the problem.

Effective Treatments for Leg Vein Removal

The whole idea is to get rid of the vein(s) that is causing the problem by either removing it or getting it to break down on its own so the body absorbs it. There are three main therapies used to achieve this. They include:

  • -Surgery: For example, plebectomy. This procedure can remove varicose veins that are close to the skin’s surface. It does not work for deeper veins, which are delicately interwoven with connective tissue and muscles. Once the superficial vein is removed, these deeper veins take on the job of sending deoxygenated blood back to the heart.
  • -Schlerotherapy: An injection of sodium chloride to the superficial and/or deeper veins causes the veins to cease functioning and collapse. After 4 to 6 weeks, the body breaks down and absorbs what remains of the affected veins.
  • -Laser therapy: Similar to schlerotherapy, the heat of intensely focused laser light causes the veins to seal and collapse, and then be absorbed by the body. Dr. Umar offers laser leg vein removal using an Nd:YAG laser.

Dr. Umar Discusses Leg Vein Treatments

In this video, Dr. Umar discusses different treatments for leg veins and how these are usually contingent on the diameter size of the blood vessels.