Venous Disease in Oxnard
Venous disease affects millions of people around the world. It is a condition during which veins become enlarged due to various reasons and result in a number of symptoms. The most common symptoms are: leg pain, swelling, heaviness, especially at the end of the day, itching, night cramps, discoloration, and painful bulging veins. In later stages, patients may experience phlebitis (inflamed veins with redness and pain), lipodermatosclerosis (hardening and discoloration of the skin), and venous ulcers.
Why do I have venous disease
The reasons for developing venous disease can be different. The most common ones are: hereditary – when your parents or close relatives have this issue; socio-economic – obesity, sedentary lifestyle or luck of exercise, jobs requiring prolonged standing (barbers, cashiers, baristas, nurses, surgeons, etc.).
In addition, venous disease can appear as part of other medical conditions, which lead to the elevation of venous pressure (heart conditions, etc.) or as part of cancer. Also, women are more prone to developing varicose veins than men because of female hormones and pregnancies.
How is venous disease treated?
Modern technologies have revolutionized the way venous disease is treated. To compare, a little over a decade ago, the treatment of venous disease was performed in hospitals and resulted in a long recovery period and could lead to many side effects.
Currently, due to the growth of improved technologies, such treatment has become a simple, minimally invasive in-office procedure with a quick recovery period and minimal side effects. Typically, this procedure will take around 30 minutes. We have even seen cases when patients have returned to their normal activities the same day.
Can the treated varicose veins come back?
We get asked this question very often. There is no simple answer to this question.
Typically, the treated veins don’t come back. However, usually progressive varicose vein disease is seen in patients with genetic predisposition. Such patients may develop multiple new varicose veins. That is why we recommend having routine follow-ups with the treating physician so the new varicose veins can be diagnosed earlier and treated.
Please note that predisposed patients that have healthy food habits and exercise have a lower chance of recurrent disease
What is the best treatment?
There are multiple ways to treat varicose veins. Among those are laser treatment, radiofrequency ablation, mechano-chemical occlusion, treatment with Varithena (similar to sclerotherapy), sclerotherapy, and microphlebectomy.
There is no such thing as better modality. They are usually used for different conditions. The only thing that matters is the experience of the physician and the crew. All the modalities can be successfully used in the hands of an experienced physician.
We recommend that the patients get treatment in a clinic that has experience with all the different treatment modalities because a combination of multiple modalities may be needed for best results.