Spider Vein Removal

These are usually minimal and of limited nature. The vast majority will settle with a little time. They include:
Bruising. Most patients will get at least a mild degree of bruising. This will usually disappear over a few days or a week. The treated veins can become darker, and in some cases, these may remain dark for a few weeks.
Hyper-pigmentation (Brown Staining). Usually due to iron deposits from old blood leaking out into surrounding tissues from the treated vein which becomes more porous This staining may take some months to fade, (rarely more than a year).
Phlebitis. Probably the most common side effect. This is a localised painful inflammation of the treated vein that settles with anti-inflammatories and compression stockings.

Micro-sclerotherapy is considered by most vein experts to be the best form of treatment for spider veins on the legs. Micro-sclerotherapy uses a very fine needle inserted into the vessels and small amounts of a solution are injected at several sites. Once the veins have shut down, blood no longer flows through them and they become firm and discoloured. The body’s immune system treats them as a bruise. Gradual re-absorption takes place and over time the veins fade away. Usually, more than one treatment is required. Some spider veins are more resistant to sclerotherapy than others. We will adjust the concentration (power) of the sclerotherapy agents depending on the success of the previous sclerotherapy session. Laser treatment for lower leg veins is generally speaking not effective because the veins are thick-walled and under high pressure because of gravity. Current laser technology does not allow sufficient energy to be delivered to the veins without significant skin damage. Sometimes at the end of treatment, we will treat very very small veins with ND YAG laser if they are too small for injection.
Special compression stockings are worn for 1 – 2 weeks. The stockings contain silver to inhibit bacteria and have no toes for your comfort. We also have lighter stockings with toes if compression stockings are only required for a few days. At our clinic there is no restriction on showering, you can shower immediately after your procedure if you wish!