What is sclerotherapy varicose vein treatment?

In my last post, I described my painful experience with sclerothraphy. I thought it might be a good idea to give a definition of sclerotherapy for those who might not be familiar with the term.

My experience with sclerotherapy was quite painful and fairly unpleasant, but I have noticed in a recent beauty report on “Extra TV” (one of my favourite TV celebrity shows) that sclerotherapy has become “THE” beauty secret treatment for Hollywood celebrities to hide veins on their hands and legs.

It’s obvious that the treatment is effective for many men and women and a lot of people (excluding myself) are willing to endure the pain to get the end results.

I found some fairly accurate definitions on the Internet and I thought I would refer to them since they explain the procedure on a more medical level.

Definition of sclerotheraphy varicose vein treatment from BCHealthGuide.org:

“Sclerotheraphy uses an injection of a special chemical (sclerosant) into a varicose vein to damage and scar the inside lining of the vein. This causes the vein to close. The sclerotherapy injection may be painful, and the chemical (sclerosant) that is injected can cause a feeling of burning or cramping for a few minutes in the area where the shot was given. You may need repeated sessions and many injections per session depending on the extent of the varicose veins and type of sclerosant used.”

Definition of sclerotheraphy varicose vein treatment from Wikipedia.org:

“Sclerotherapy is a procedure used to treat blood vessels or blood vessel malformations (vascular malformations) and also those of the lymphatic system. A medicine is injected into the vessels, which makes them shrink. It is used for children and young adults with vascular or lymphatic malformations. In adults, sclerotherapy is often used to treat varicose veins and hemorrhoids. Sclerotherapy is one method, along with surgery, radiofrequency and laser ablation, for treatment of varicose veins and venous malformations. In ultrasound-guided sclerotherapy, ultrasound is used to visualize the underlying vein so the physician can deliver and monitor the injection. Sclerotherapy should be done under ultrasound guidance after venous abnormailities have been diagnosed with duplex ultrasound. Sclerotherapy under ultrasound guidance and using microfoam sclerosants has been shown to be effective in controlling reflux from the sapheno-femoral and sapheno-popliteal junctions.”

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Photo by Katie Tegtmeyer