Anyone had treatment for varicose veins??

M

midnight

Cathlete
I have a very unsightly one behind my right knee that I hate and have wanted to get rid of forever. My dermatologist has done sclerotherapy (saline injections) on some spider veins I had on my thighs but doesn't think he can do anything with this. Apparently my options are laser therapy or surgical removal. Since neither is covered by my insurance (the procedure is considered cosmetic), I want to get the most for my money. Anyone had either of these procedures done and how did it turn out?

Thanks!!
--Lois
 
I had a huge varicose vein surgically removed from my left calf. I had it done by a very good surgeon, and it was covered by insurance. I went to a vein doctor, that refered me to a general surgeon. Yours may be covered by insurance because with varicosed veins there is a risk for thrombus (blood clots). I was under for about 2 hours. I am so glad I did it. Recovery was fine. That night I was a mess from anesthesia and morphine, but the next morning I was walking around, no problem. There was barely any pain. You have to wear compression hose and ace bandages. This is crucial for healing, and preventing more scaring than what is normal.

Another option is laser, so if it is comparable in price and will do the trick, I would go laser in a heartbeat. You don't have to go under general anesthesia or have surgery.

Lori
 
Yours was covered by insurance? I'll have to check mine a little closer. Could be that under some circumstances mine might be covered as well (but probably for surgical removal, not laser). It's worth checking into. Thanks for the info.
--Lois
 
You are welcome Lois. Is your vein doctor an MD? He should refer you to a surgeon who does this kind of thing.

I let mine "go" for too long. I developed it from being on my feet all day working, then it got worse during 2 pregnancies. When your vein is varicosed it isn't working properly and can damage other veins. I had a bunch of damaged veins from it. That's why it took so long, it was a railroaded mess. I had stab punctures all along my leg to remove other leaky veins. So don't let it go, or you will be in for a bigger mess.

Like I said, it was the best thing I ever did. The scars are barely noticeable, and my leg looks so much better.

Lori :)
 
No, my doc is a dermatologist and he has referred me to a vascular surgeon. I really need to check into the insurance things and the varicose vein is deep and there is a "web" of spider veins close to the surface. Really unattractive, but I never knew it was potentially dangerous. I'm going to pursue this with the vascular surgeon.

--Lois
 
Your derm is probably is an MD. Anyhow, a blood clot may never happen, but it is a risk factor, and this is how maybe it is covered by insurance. It really didn't matter too much for me. My husband and I private pay BlueCross, BlueShield of Florida, since my dh owns his own business and I stay at home with our kids. We had a big deductible, so I ended up paying out of pocket. The doctor knew this and gave us a discounted rate. Even though it was nearly 2000 dollars, it was well worth it. It was so unsightly, I live in Florida, I am young. :) I couldn't walk around with a big ugly vein on my leg. :)

Lori
 
I've had two differnt procedures done. 13 years ago, I had some veins removed on the top of my lower left leg. I was told at the time that it could get bad again in 10 years and I would need more surgery. It was very brief surgery, and recovery was over the weekend, but I had to wear the compression bandage mentioned for about 2 weeks.

2 years ago the same leg got bad again, and this time the entire main saphenous (sp?)vein was bad, so I had the whole thing stripped out by a vascular surgeon. He was willing to refer me to someone who did the laser surgery; only 2 or 3 practices in the Mpls/St. Paul area do this. He said he didn't recommend it because the risk of complications was still too high (about 7%). That was too high for me, since one of the complications is amputation! Even with the easier recovery, I wasn't willing to risk it.

The surgery was about 2 hours under anesthesia-but still day surgery. Anesthesia doesn't affect me much--I come out of it very quickly. You have to lay flat on your back with your leg elevated for 48 hours except for bathroom breaks. I was supposed to miss a week of work, but went back early. I had to wear compression bandage for about 2 or 3 weeks. I never had to take painkillers either time and insurance paid for both procedures.
 
I called the insurance co. (HMO Blue of New England) and was told that the procedure had to be "medically necessary" to be covered otherwise it was considered cosmetic surgery. How do you determine if it is medically necessary? It doesn't hurt.

--Lois
 
Are you SURE it doesn't hurt;-)

Like the other poster said, if it is bad enough, there are risk factors, such as blood clots associated with VV.
 
Exactly, are you SURE it doesn't hurt? Maybe at night, after a long day, it doesn't THROB, or feel FATIGUED?? ;-) ;-)

I had the entire saphenous vein stripped also, forgot to mention that part! It was necessary, because the whole thing was shot!

Lori
 
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