Spider Veins

Spider veins are small abnormal veins that are usually red, purple or blue. Sometimes spider veins are only a cosmetic issue but often there is an underlying problem that is causing the spider veins to appear. Spider veins can be caused by other veins that are larger and deeper in your legs that you cannot see. If these deeper veins are problematic, and they are not treated, the spider veins will not go away. In order to find out if the deeper veins are working correctly, they need to be looked at with an ultrasound, especially if you are having symptoms. Common symptoms of vein disease are pain, achiness, heaviness, itching, swelling and tiredness. Many people have lived with these symptoms for so long that they don’t realize that the symptoms are being caused by their veins. The good news is that treating spider veins, usually with a combination of sclerotherapy and a laser procedure, will help improve these symptoms.

Before we know what the best treatment would be for you, we have to see you in our office for an examination and ultrasound. The ultrasound is done in our office by Dr. Schuh at your first visit. Because Dr. Schuh performs the ultrasound at your visit, and goes over the results with you, you will know what treatments you need before you leave our office after your first visit. If the ultrasound shows that the deeper veins in your legs are not working correctly you will need a combination of sclerotherapy and a laser procedure called EVLA / EVLT to treat your veins effectively. In this case, these procedures are almost always covered by health insurance. If the ultrasound shows that the deeper veins are working properly, you will only need sclerotherapy. Unfortunately many insurance companies have stopped paying for sclerotherapy alone; they will only cover sclerotherapy if you also need the EVLA / EVLT procedure.

If your examination and ultrasound show that your spider veins are more than cosmetic, and you do need the EVLA / EVLT procedure, our office will submit this information to your insurance company to get authorization for your treatments. After we get authorization for treatment from your insurance company, we will get an estimate of your out of pocket costs. After we have that estimate, we will call you to schedule you for treatment. If your exam shows that your spider veins are truly cosmetic, your insurance will never pay for treatment. If this is the case, we will give you an estimate of the cost to treat your spider veins, and will schedule you for treatment at your convenience.

After treatment of your spider veins, whether you have the EVLA / EVLT procedure, sclerotherapy for spider veins, or a combination of these, you will have to wear surgical grade compression stockings for a period of time. This period of time ranges from 2 weeks to 4 weeks depending on the type of treatment, and how much treatment you need. These stockings are especially important for resolving smaller veins and spider veins that have to be injected and cannot be lasered. We sell these stockings in our office, but we are happy to give you a prescription if you would like to try to get them from another source. The exact type and strength of stockings you would need may vary depending on the treatment you are having. When you schedule treatment we will tell you what strength of stockings you need, and give you a prescription for them if necessary.

The Vein Care Insitute in Denver, Colorado are specialists in diagnosing and providing virtually pain free laser treatment for removal of spider veins .