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>> Dr. Andrew Winter
What causes thread veins?
Thread veins are superficial, minute little vessels that occur on the surface layer of
the skin.
They’re usually caused by a combination of three aspects including the person’s
skin type;
prolonged standing and raised intra-abdominal pressure which is most common during pregnancy.
The lady we saw today has had three pregnancies and I’m sure this has majorly contributed
to her thread veins,
together with the fact that she stands quite a lot in her job.
There are a number of ways that thread veins can be treated,
but by far the gold standard is with something called sclerotherapy
which involves injecting a chemical into each vessel.
As an average I tell people they’re going to need between two and three treatment sessions
each lasting between 30 and 45 minutes.
What does the treatment involve?
The procedure of treatment with sclerotherapy –
which as I’ve said, is the gold standard for these vessels on the legs – involves
a vessel assessment
on the patient while they
are sitting and standing
and then a chemical is injected with a very fine needle into each vessel.
Usually there are tributaries, so one injection can usually target several vessels at a time.
The patient may experience mild discomfort on the odd occasion,
but by and large they’re barely aware of anything
and they usually just sit and have a chat.
What about post-treatment?
Post-treatment with sclerotherapy is important
as the patient needs to maintain some degree of compression
and this can be done by wearing some form of bandaging or compression stockings.
For the first 24-hours it’s advocated that hot baths are avoided,
because heat will cause dilation of the blood vessels and will work against the effect of
the treatments.
I think it’s very important when a patient comes for sclerotherapy
that they’re fully aware that the treatment is offered by someone
who is suitable qualified and by that I mean an appropriately trained nurse or doctor.