Feel Good About Your Legs with Our Full Vein Treatment
By: Boone County Health Center
Boone County Health Center (BCHC) along with Heartland Radiology now offer full service vein treatment in Albion for spider veins and varicose veins.
Spider veins are tiny purple, blue or red veins any place on the leg. Varicose veins are twisted, swollen veins that are sometimes raised up and often blue in color. Whether small or large, varicose veins can become painful and burn or throb.
“I can give patients relief from small varicose veins or spider veins with a simple procedure called Sclerotherapy,” said BCHC PA-C Sandy Henry. “During this procedure, I put a very fine needle into the vein and inject a solution that causes the inner lining of the vein to scar closed, and slowly they fade away.”
“Most patients say there is just a mild twinge of pain for a few seconds with each injection.” Patients are instructed to wear compression stockings for 48 hours after treatment to aid in the process.
For larger varicose veins, Heartland Radiology can now do an ablation treatment in Albion which gives patients relief from symptoms right away.
For this treatment, a thin flexible tube with numbing medicine is put into the vein through a tiny hole in the skin. Then the walls of the vein are burned, causing the vein to seal shut. This does not hurt the blood flow in the leg, as the body will simply re-route the blood through another healthier vein.
“These kinds of vein treatments are often only offered in the city, so it’s nice to make them available to our patients much closer to home,” said Henry.
In the past, treatment for varicose veins often involved “vein stripping” in which the valves inside the veins are “stripped” out. This causes significant pain and swelling and down time. With these new treatments, there is no need for a large incision and there is no down time.
In fact, patients are encouraged to walk right after the procedure. After the ablation treatment, patients are cautioned against heavy activity and are asked to wear compression stockings, but this is for two weeks only.
Medicare and most health insurances cover vein treatments if medically indicated. For more information, patients can call BCHC at 402-395-5013 and ask for aesthetics scheduling or talk to their BCHC Primary Care Provider (PCP).