Varicose Veins
A diseased superficial venous system develops into varicose veins and spider veins. Peninsula Vascular Center, located in San Mateo County, California and neighboring Palo Alto and Menlo Park, focuses on the treatment of patients with diseases of the superficial venous system. Over half of all women and slightly less than half of all men will develop varicose veins. While the propensity to develop this condition is predominantly hereditary, pregnancy, advancing age, obesity, prolonged standing or sitting, lack of exercise and poor leg muscle tone can all worsen the situation. It is especially important to recognize that the cosmetic aspects of this disease are variable and do not always correlate with the severity of the underlying abnormalities and symptoms. For example, many people will have lifestyle limiting symptoms with only minimal visible abnormalities.
Vein Appearance and Function
Healthy leg veins contain competent "one-way" valves that critically assist the return of blood to the heart. Superficial venous insufficiency develops when vein walls stretch and valves become damaged or incompetent, allowing blood to flow backwards (reflux). This reflux increases both blood volume and pressure below the damaged valves. As a result, veins become increasingly dilated and poorly functional and the surrounding tissue engorged with fluid, leading to leg signs and symptoms such as:
- Varicose veins and spider veins
- Heaviness and fatigue
- Pain and aching
- Burning, numbness and itching
- Swelling
- Muscle cramps
- Nighttime "restless legs"
Varicose veins often appear as dark, enlarged leg veins that bulge and twist on the skin surface. Importantly however, not all varicose veins are visible to the eye and some must be detected by clinical history and ultrasound examination. Damaged superficial veins can take many different forms, from large vein clusters to small surface veins. In some women, vulvar and labial varices develop, especially after pregnancy. Abnormal skin surface veins often indicate the presence of more serious, underlying venous reflux disease. If left untreated, patients with superficial vein disease can have critical, debilitating complications, such as skin breakdown, ulceration and infection. Moreover, venous insufficiency often coexists with arterial vascular disease and we pay special attention to this during our clinical evaluation.
Treating Varicose Veins
We offer state of the art therapies that utilize minimally invasive techniques to treat the vast majority of patients with venous insufficiency and symptomatic varicose veins. Modern varicose vein treatments are percutaneous (through the skin) procedures performed with imaging (usually ultrasound) guidance and local anesthesia. They are office based treatments with minimum associated patient discomfort, overwhelmingly good outcomes and quick recovery times. Patients are encouraged to continue normal activities and to exercise their legs beginning immediately after the completion of treatment. Open surgical procedures, such as vein stripping, are rarely recommended because their long-term results are inferior and the complications uniformly greater.
Peninsula Vascular Center offers the following varicose vein treatments:
Dr. Lewis recommends the right treatment plan for each patient based upon the results of a thorough clinical and ultrasound evaluation.