Unfortunately, when patients have had Sclerotherapy at another clinic, the results are usually less than impressive. As a consequence, the patient thinks that Sclerotherapy doesn’t work for them. The reason for this poor result is usually simple – the reticular veins, the veins that feed into the spider veins, have not been treated PRIOR to treating the spider veins (“telangiectasia”). This is the most common mistake that is made by doctors with the invariable result that either the spider veins do not go, they are made worse or they come back very quickly (less than 1 year). Sometimes the cause for a poor result is that the patient has an underlying deeper problem (that can only be determined by an Ultrasound examination) but this situation is less common. The reason why doctors don’t treat the reticular veins is that they don’t understand the significance of these veins or that they find the treatment of these veins too technically difficult. The reason why the underlying incompetence is not diagnosed is that there is often not a high enough “index of suspicion” about the cause of the problem. These issues are addressed by having your veins treated by a doctor who has had accredited training through an established organisation like the Australasian College of Phlebology.
Dear Arletha, Thank you for your kind comments.
My veins are not this bad. How you make the decision on whether treatment for spider veins is worthwhile? I have some veins which I am embarrassed about and I think the whole world look at when I am in shorts or skirts.
Hi Sandra, The decision whether to treat spider veins comes down to how much they bother you and whether you are prepared to pay the cost to get them treated. There is also a risk component of treatment but in the case of treating spider veins this is
usually very small. The cost of treatment depends on whether there is any deeper vein involvement or not and this is determined at your initial consultation.