Exam

The first step in assessing a patient with a vein complaint is to take a thorough history and perform a focused physical examination. We listen very carefully to each patient's description of their symptoms and history with vein disease. These facts are always invaluable in the diagnosis of a patient's particular pattern of vein disease. Once we've heard the patient's history and listened to their concerns, we perform a targeted physical examination of the legs which gives us a great deal of information and answers several key questions such as:

• Is this a vein related disorder or is this another problem (arterial disease for example)?
• If this is venous insufficiency, are the deep veins involved?
• What patterns of reflux and varicose vein development are at work here? If the patient has spider veins, is this the only problem or is this just the outer manifestation of a deeper problem?
• What is producing this patient's symptoms?

Now with a working diagnosis, our physicians may proceed with imaging technologies like high-resolution vascular ultrasound or infrared vein illumination imaging.