If you’ve looked into treatment options for the removal of unsightly or painful varicose veins, you’ve likely marveled at the advances in modern medicine over just the last few decades.
Some of today’s most popular options employ the use of tiny incisions to painlessly remove portions of diseased veins, while other methods call for the use of a liquid salt solution to internally collapse blood vessels.
Things weren’t always so easy.
The Ancient Greeks were the first to use basic compression therapy to relieve the symptoms of varicose veins, as crude attempts to surgically remove veins were often painful and even deadly. Physicians in the 1700s and 1800s injected iron or iodine into affected veins, but the practice brought complications.
By the early 20th century, doctors had begun stripping portions of the great saphenous vein – the longest vein in the human body – to remove swollen veins in the leg. The procedure, which is still used in one form or another today, is considered to be invasive and raises the potential for serious blood clotting, nerve injury, and infection. Vein re-growth is also possible.
Advances in technology have created far less invasive and more effective methods for removing varicose veins and blood vessels affected by chronic venous insufficiency — a degenerative condition in which blood pools inside damaged veins and prevents blood from returning to the heart.
One successful method of procedures, known as endovenous radiofrequency ablation, involves the use of image-guided lasers, heat, and radiofrequency energy to collapse troublesome veins.
In a modern Venefit™ procedure, which was developed by the Ireland-based medical manufacturer Covidien, a radiofrequency ablation catheter is inserted into a vein, and energy that’s similar to microwave heat closes it. Once a vein is sealed, blood gets rerouted to other healthy veins in the body.
Radiofrequency ablation, known as RFA, is considered to be a much safer procedure than conventional surgery and leaves little to no scarring. A typical, outpatient procedure takes up to an hour, and usually, involves local anesthesia and mild sedation. Ultrasound is used to monitor the procedure internally, and a routine follow-up exam is performed to check for deep vein clotting.
An RFA procedure is usually covered by insurance when it’s used to treat a condition that is accompanied by pain, discomfort, and other health problems.
A 2009 study found that radiofrequency ablation is less painful than endovenous laser therapy (known as ELT), which uses optical fiber and infrared laser light to collapse varicose veins.
For more on the Venefit™ procedure, click here. To watch a video, click here.
Venefit™ Targeted Endovenous Therapy is just one of treatment option for the removal of unsightly varicose veins and spider veins. Let West Florida Vein Center, a division of Surgical Associates of West Florida, help you pick the best treatment option. To request a consultation or for more information, visit our website or call 727-712-3233.
