My Legs Ache All Night: What’s Going On?
Nighttime leg pain can get in the way of your sleep, something you desperately need to feel your best. Fortunately, we can help you figure out what’s going on so you can get relief — and a good night’s rest.
What Can Be Done About the Bubbly Veins on My Legs?
Your veins are supposed to be one-way conduits, feeding blood back to your heart to get oxygenated. In fact, they have specialized valves that keep blood flowing in the right direction.
However, those valves can malfunction. If they become weak or damaged, they might allow blood to flow backward through the vein. This causes the vein to become engorged, resulting in the bulging, bubbly-looking vein you might have spotted in your leg.
Medical experts have a name for this vein problem: varicose veins. Fortunately, they also have multiple ways to address them.
We offer four different targeted treatments for varicose veins at Vascular & Interventional Associates in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. Our team has extensive experience helping people throughout northern Kentucky and the Cincinnati, Ohio, area eliminate problem veins.
Smoothing bubbly varicose veins
Varicose veins can be a cosmetic concern, a source of discomfort, or both. Fortunately, you can eliminate that vein. That soothes symptoms like leg pain, itching, and achiness. It also addresses the visibility of the vein, but how it accomplishes that depends on the treatment you choose.
Some varicose vein treatments seal the vein shut. Over time, the body absorbs that nonfunctioning vein. As it does, that vein fades from view. Other treatment options remove the vein entirely, eliminating its appearance immediately.
You don’t need to worry that you’re compromising your body’s ability to transport blood by sealing off or removing that vein. Your system has around 60,000 miles of blood vessels at its disposal. Once the varicose vein is no longer viable, your body reroutes blood flow to other healthy veins.
Different treatments for varicose veins
At Vascular & Interventional Associates, we have four varicose vein treatments that we can use to address troublesome veins.
Endovenous laser ablation
This treatment starts with a local anesthetic to keep you comfortable. We use an ultrasound to guide a specialized laser fiber through the vein. As the laser moves through the vein, its heat seals the vein shut.
Radiofrequency ablation
This treatment also uses heat to seal the vein shut. In this instance, though, we use radiofrequency energy instead of a laser to create that heat.
Foam sclerotherapy
In some cases, the vein is too deep for us to effectively treat it with ablation. We can use a different kind of treatment called sclerotherapy to close off that vein.
Sclerotherapy means injecting the vein with a foam medication (Varithena®). That medication makes the walls of the vein stick together. We use an ultrasound to guide the injection of the Varithena, improving our accuracy and your outcome.
Then, you wear a specialized bandage that puts pressure on the vein for a period of time afterward. This encourages that vein to seal shut.
Microphlebectomy
If the vein is too big to seal off with sclerotherapy or ablation or if you want to immediately remove its appearance from your leg, our team offers microphlebectomy. With this option, under local anesthesia, we remove the vein from your leg through a pinhole incision.
Clearly, you have options to get rid of those bubbly veins on your leg. To learn which treatment is right for you, make an appointment at Vascular & Interventional Associates by calling our office or booking your visit online today.
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