Question:
Virtually all spider veins and smaller varicose veins can be removed quickly and without pain by a non-surgical technique called sclerotherapy. The procedure involves injecting saline or sodium tetradecyl sulfate into the vein, causing the vein to collapse and eventually dissolve, says an article in the September issue of Prevention. Would there be on the network anybody able to add something to the above? Feasability, risks, costs (sic), etc,.?

Answer: -I'd like to know more about this too (side effects? scars?). I recently asked my doctor if he could recommend someone to do it, and at first he he said no one is willing to, because they have found that the leg veins that most often become varicose are the very ones you want to have available in case a heart bypass operation is ever necessary. In retrospect, this doesn't sound like it makes sense, since a vein that is varicose isn't functional, is it? Anyway, when I explained that the varicose veins I was thinking of were the small "spider" ones, he said that any dermatologist could zap them with electricity. This puzzled me again as I thought the injection method was the latest, hottest thing. -Sclerotherapy is for larger varicose veins, not vascular spiders. Varicose veins are never used for bypass surgery. Arm veins or internal mammary (chest) veins can be used in those patients who lack a suitable saphenous veins.