Step 1: Personal Consultation & Diagnosis
Like all medical procedures, your varicose vein treatment in San Diego must start with a personal consultation. You can schedule a consultation at our state-of-the-art vein center online or call us at +1 858-461-7886. Our vein clinic is located at 5330 Carroll Canyon Rd Suite 140, San Diego, a short distance from the popular Westfield UTC shopping center. The vein center is highly accessible, has plenty of parking spaces, and you can also ask for free insurance verification when you schedule your appointment.
The primary goal of the personal consultation is to determine the root cause of your vein problems. Seemingly benign vein problems, like spider veins and leg heaviness, can often be symptomatic of underlying venous insufficiency, a medical condition wherein the collapse of your vein valves causes blood to flow backward and accumulate in your leg veins. Until the underlying vein disease is treated, the superficial symptoms will keep returning. As such, an effective varicose vein treatment must start with an investigation for vein disease.
Your personal consultation with our exceptional board-certified vein doctors will include:
- Visual Examination: The vein doctor carefully examines your leg veins to look for the signs and symptoms of vein disease, such as leg swelling, spider veins, and varicose veins.
- Discussion of Symptoms: The vein doctor asks you to describe how you’re feeling. They’ll ask you if you’re experiencing leg heaviness, leg pain, restless leg syndrome, frequent leg cramps, and if these symptoms worsen at the end of the day or after long periods of inactivity. These are all strong indicators of vein disease.
- Medical History Review: The vein specialist will review your medical history to look for potential risk factors for vein disease, such as a history of bleeding disorders or deep vein thrombosis (blood clots in the veins).
- Vascular Imaging: As a final step, they’ll run some vascular imaging tests, such as Duplex Ultrasound, to visualize the blood flow in your leg veins. This conclusively reveals the diseased saphenous vein responsible for your vein problems.
Step 2: Treatment Plan
We curate a minimally invasive vein treatment plan based on your diagnosis and several other factors. The fellowship-trained vein doctors at VTC San Diego believe in comprehensive care, i.e., we curate an individualized treatment plan that offers relief from the superficial symptoms and the underlying vein disease. We only use minimally invasive vein treatments because they have a nearly perfect success rate, cause little to no pain, and conclude within an hour with no downtime. Most varicose vein treatments are covered by insurance if you have underlying venous insufficiency.
We curate an individualized vein treatment plan based on the following factors:
- Diagnostic Results: If you have underlying vein disease, we must treat the diseased saphenous vein before addressing the superficial leg veins. If not, we can proceed with cosmetic treatments directly.
- Medical History: We evaluate your medical history to determine which treatments you’d respond to well.
- Cosmetic Concerns: We choose the cosmetic treatment based on your specific cosmetic concerns, i.e., whether you have spider veins, varicose veins, the number of leg veins, etc.
- Insurance Options: We also review your insurance coverage options to recommend the treatments for which you get maximum coverage.
Step 3: Primary Vein Treatments
The primary vein treatments aim to address the underlying venous insufficiency. Radiofrequency ablation, endovenous laser ablation, and VenaSeal are examples of the best minimally invasive vein treatments. All vein treatments are performed under local anesthesia, cause little to no discomfort, and conclude within an hour with no downtime. They have the same underlying goal — close the diseased saphenous vein responsible for your vein problems and reroute the accumulated blood to healthier leg veins, restoring effective blood circulation to the heart. However, each vein treatment involves a different technique to achieve that goal.
The following is a brief description of the primary vein treatments:
- Radiofrequency Ablation: The vein doctor inserts a catheter into the diseased vein via an incision on the skin’s surface to deliver radiofrequency waves that seal its walls.
- Endovenous Laser Ablation: The vein doctor inserts a laser fiber into the problematic vein via an incision on the skin’s surface to deliver laser energy to seal its walls.
- VenaSeal: The vein doctor injects a medical-grade adhesive into the diseased saphenous vein to fuse its walls and make the accumulated blood reroute to healthier leg veins.
Step 4: Cosmetic Vein Treatments
The cosmetic treatments are suitable for patients who have superficial varicose veins or spider veins from the beginning or after the primary vein treatment. Ambulatory phlebectomy and sclerotherapy are the best cosmetic treatments for your leg veins — they remove the superficial leg veins to restore your aesthetic appearance.
The following is a brief description of the cosmetic vein treatments:
- Ambulatory Phlebectomy: The vein doctor removes the superficial varicose veins through small incisions on the skin’s surface.
- Sclerotherapy: The vein doctor injects a special sclerosant solution into the spider veins to fuse their walls, turning them into hardened scar tissues that eventually get absorbed by the body.
Step 5: Aftercare & Recovery
The entire varicose vein treatment process concludes in 30 to 60 minutes, following which you can resume all your daily activities without downtime. In fact, most patients opt for these treatments during their lunch break to avoid shuffling their schedules. Your vein doctor will provide some aftercare and recovery guidelines to ensure you have a smooth recovery process.
The following are some of your recovery guidelines:
- Wear compression stockings for a few weeks.
- Avoid heavy lifting for a few days.
- Engage in light cardio activities, like running, cycling, and swimming.
- Walk frequently and avoid sitting in one place for too long at a stretch.
- Elevate your legs while sitting, whenever possible.
To learn more about the different options for spider and varicose vein treatment, please visit https://veintreatmentca.com/vein-treatment/ Our accredited vein centers offer all of the latest technology, and our accomplished and compassionate vein experts will create a custom treatment plan tailored to your individual needs. We have locations nation-wide, including in New York, Long Island, New Jersey, and Texas.