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Like millions of other Americans, you may have some of the blood vessels in your legs become more visible due to varicose or spider veins.
And when we say millions of Americans, we aren’t exaggerating — varicose veins affect nearly one quarter of adults in the United States and spider veins develop in half of people over the age of 50.
The bright spot in these eye-opening statistics is that we have more ways than ever before to hit the reset button on visible veins in your legs. In fact, the US varicose vein treatment market was nearly $550 million in 2023 and is projected to grow 5.5% by 2030.
This great growth is fueled by accessible vein treatments, treatments that Dr. Satjit Bhusri and the vascular team offer at The Upper East Side Vein Institute. Here, we look at some points to consider when choosing the right vein treatment for your needs.
Spider veins have their own treatment
One of the first things to consider is the type of vascular issue that’s developed on your legs. If you want to get rid of spindly spider veins, for example, these are smaller, and we would likely recommend the Asclera® vein treatment.
With Asclera, we inject a solution into the vein that damages the blood vessel lining, causing it to collapse, at which point your body reabsorbs the remnants.
Treatments for varicose veins
If you’ve developed those bulging, ropey veins in your legs called varicose veins, we have a few highly effective vein treatments, including:
ClosureFast®
With ClosureFast, we insert a catheter into the diseased vein and release thermal energy that causes the vein to collapse. Rest assured, any blood in the vessel reroutes to healthier veins and the remnants of the treated vein are naturally processed by your body.
Varithena®
With Varithena, we inject an FDA-approved foam into the varicose vein, causing the vein to shut down. As with the other vein treatments, your body cleans up after our work, removes the diseased vein, and routes your blood to different blood vessels.
VenaSeal®
VenaSeal takes a slightly different approach to varicose veins — we inject a medical-grade adhesive into the diseased vein, press it together, and the vein seals and shuts down.
Each of these treatments involves minimally invasive injections and the same recovery steps, which include:
- Moving as much as possible to encourage circulation
- Wearing compression stockings
- Avoiding baths for the first few days after your treatment
Other than these recommendations, there isn’t much more you need to do after these vein treatments except wait for your body to clear the treated vein, allowing you to show off your legs with confidence again.
Larger varicose veins
If you have very large varicose veins, our minimally invasive vein treatments may not resolve the issue. In these cases, we typically recommend removing the vein surgically, a procedure that Dr. Bhusri has performed many times over the years.
Surgical removal of your varicose veins requires a more involved recovery as you’ll have incision care, but the rest of the aftercare recommendations we outline above apply.
The best way to determine which vein treatment is right for your purposes is to sit down with one of our vascular experts for an evaluation. To get that ball rolling, please call our New York City office on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at 212-752-3464. You can also schedule an appointment online by clicking here.