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Varicose Veins

Veins are blood ves­sels that car­ry blood back to the heart. In addi­ti­on to the ske­le­tal-mus­cle pump, the venous val­ves also help here. If the­se val­ves are dama­ged (usual­ly due to pre­dis­po­si­ti­on) or do not clo­se com­ple­te­ly any­mo­re, venous blood builds up in the legs. The result is dis­cernable, vaso­dila­ted veins (vari­co­se veins). As a con­se­quence, stron­gly cir­so­id vaso­dila­ted veins are visi­ble: usual­ly, bluish-loo­king side bran­ches that also appear in the foot area, as well as spi­der veins.

Fre­quent­ly, pati­ents expe­ri­ence typi­cal sym­ptoms such as a fee­ling of hea­vi­ness, itching and a bur­ning sen­sa­ti­on in the legs. Espe­ci­al­ly after pro­lon­ged sit­ting or stan­ding, the­re may also be pain­ful swel­ling. Skin lesi­ons or poor­ly heal­ing wounds on the legs can occur in the advan­ced stage of the condition.

As vari­co­se veins are a chro­nic con­di­ti­on, they may recur after opti­mal pri­ma­ry tre­at­ment. In the case of recur­rent vari­co­se veins (recur­rent vari­co­sis) after surgery/treatment, an indi­vi­dua­li­zed the­ra­py — depen­ding on results — beco­mes all the more necessary.

For a dia­gno­sis, a phy­si­cal exami­na­ti­on and an ultra­sound exami­na­ti­on (duplex sono­gra­phy) are neces­sa­ry. After this, various tre­at­ment opti­ons can be selected.

  • Open Clas­sic Sur­gery (Crossec­to­my and Stripping)

Through a small incis­i­on in the gro­in or in the pop­li­te­al fos­sa, the affec­ted vari­co­se vein is sepa­ra­ted from the deep leg vein, after which the saphe­nous vein is removed.

  • Mini­mal­ly Inva­si­ve Methods (Endo­ve­nous Radio­fre­quen­cy Abla­ti­on or Laser Ablation) 

In this con­ser­va­ti­ve method, no incis­i­on is neces­sa­ry. Access is via a small need­le under local anaes­the­sia. Through heat, the affec­ted vein is intern­al­ly obli­te­ra­ted, while the sur­roun­ding tis­sue is pro­tec­ting with coo­ling liquid.

  • Rem­oval (Exe­re­sis) of Side Branches

Super­fi­ci­al, sever­ely cir­so­id veins are remo­ved local­ly via minu­te incisions.

  • Foam Scl­ero­the­ra­py

In this (usual­ly cos­me­tic) tre­at­ment of the smal­lest super­fi­ci­al veins or spi­der veins, the appli­ca­ti­on of a liquid scle­ro­sing agent takes place via a tiny needle.

  • Indi­vi­dua­li­zed The­ra­py for Recur­rent Varicosis

In pre­vious­ly operated/treated vari­co­se veins (recur­rent vari­co­sis), a com­bi­na­ti­on of dif­fe­rent pro­ce­du­res often leads to the the­ra­peu­tic goal.