METHODS OF TREATING VARICOSE VEIN DISEASE
Heaviness, pain, rapid fatigue and swelling of the legs, changes in the skin, a lumpy appearance of the calves… If you have varicose veins in your legs, don’t worry this problem can be solved!
Varicose veins are a disease of the vessels that carry blood back to the heart – the veins. During the illness, veins lose elasticity, stretch, and become elongated, which leads to impaired blood flow and congestion in the legs. Gradually, swelling and nodules appear. The skin over them becomes thinner, dry, and turns brown (pigmentation). The inability of the leg veins to effectively transport and push blood upward toward the heart is caused by weakness of the venous walls and the insufficiency of the valves inside them. Unfortunately, varicose veins are a progressive disease that leads to irreversible changes in the superficial veins, skin, and muscles. This is why the “easy solutions” promoted by misleading advertisements are a trap.
Varicose veins of the lower limbs are a surgical disease, and therefore the treatment lies entirely within the competence of a vascular surgeon. An experienced vascular surgeon will determine which therapeutic approach is appropriate in each specific case. The range of modern treatment methods includes both preoperative options (prevention, therapeutic exercise, physiotherapy, compression therapy, medications including herbal remedies) and surgical interventions (traditional open surgery, phlebectomy, sclerotherapy, laser photocoagulation, radiofrequency ablation).
The Most Advanced Method of Eliminating Varicose Veins
Radiofrequency ablation is the most modern and least traumatic method of getting rid of varicose veins: no incisions, local anesthesia, outpatient treatment, and completed in a single visit to the doctor. During radiofrequency ablation, a lower temperature of thermal effect (around 120°C) is used compared with the older laser coagulation technique (up to 800°C). Vein closure is achieved by directly affecting a specific protein (type II collagen), rather than by forming an intravascular thrombus (thrombotic vein occlusion). For this reason, the procedure does not involve significant damage to the vein wall, surrounding vessels, or tissues. The procedure can be performed on veins of any diameter and at any stage of the disease.
During laser photocoagulation, the outcome of the treatment depends entirely on the practitioner’s experience, since determining exposure time, the evenness of fiber pullback, and other factors rely on subjective judgment. In contrast, the unique technology of the state-of-the-art ClosureFAST™ device for segmental ablation eliminates problems that previously depended on intuition. During the procedure, a special radiofrequency catheter equipped with a sensitive thermal sensor transmits information to a central analyzer. The high-tech VNUS device, with a built-in feedback function, automatically regulates the power delivered to type II collagen. As a result, the risk of postoperative complications (bruising, pain) is significantly reduced because the treated area is minimal. This is why global clinical practice shows that after radiofrequency ablation, the rehabilitation period is virtually nonexistent.