You have endured unattractive varicose veins and the side effects they cause, such as constantly swollen, painful, aching legs. You’re tired of making excuses to avoid being seen in a bathing suit or shorts. And, you’re tired of feeling bad about yourself every time you look into the mirror. In the words of the movie Network, you’re “mad as hell and you’re not going to take it any more!” You’re ready to try to find the best varicose vein treatment near you.

Congratulations! As varicose vein treatment specialists, we applaud your decision to do something about your varicose veins. At CiC, we want to do everything we can to help you follow through on getting the treatment you need. In this article, we’ll start by suggesting what your next steps should be.

Step 1: Get a venous health screening and get your facts straight

If you haven’t really consulted a varicose vein specialist about your varicose veins, your first step should be to do so. Call the best vein doctors in the Valley and schedule an appointment for a venous health screening.

The venous health screening takes only about an hour, it is non-invasive and completely painless. A screening can tell you exactly how serious your varicose veins are. This is the first thing you need to know when considering how best to treat them. Mild cases, for example, can often be treated using conservative treatment to control symptoms such as exercise, compression stockings, and lifestyle changes. More serious cases – especially if your personal goal is to eliminate the ugly, swollen veins – may require more aggressive treatment.

Step 2: Ask your CiC vein doctor to explain the treatment options

Your goal in this step should be to learn about and consider ALL of the varicose vein treatment options available to you. You want to learn as much as you can about how varicose veins are treated these days.

For example, you may have heard from a friend or colleague who had their varicose veins treated with techniques such as sclerotherapy. Sclerotherapy is a wonderful technique, it is minimally-invasive and requires no hospitalization or anesthesia.

But don’t stop researching there. There may be other forms of treatment that might be more appropriate for you, given your overall health and the extent of your vein disease. For example, many clients at our CiC vein clinics with larger varicose veins have found that Venaseal, radiofrequency ablation or endovenous laser ablation were more appropriate treatment options for them.

During the follow-up visits to your initial screening, you should ask your doctor about all of these options. If you want to learn more before then, visit the Vein Care section of our website beforehand.

Step 3: Decide which treatment is best, and follow through on your decision

Consult with one of our CiC vein experts such as Dr. Jeff Braxton, Dr. Karen Garby, or Dr. Michael Makki to determine the best treatment approach, and work with your doctors to create a personalized treatment plan.

More than one appointment may be necessary. However, you can rest assured that each of these appointments will be comfortable and efficient. The techniques involve minimally invasive treatments of varicose veins. It might take some weeks before the last remaining traces of them are gone. However they will be gone, and once a varicose vein has been removed, it doesn’t return, although some people do develop new varicose veins in the future.

Step 1 is still the most important, however. You’ve made your decision…now act on it. Pick up your telephone and dial 888-377-7122 or go online to schedule a Venous Health Screening and take that first step towards becoming free from your varicose veins today!

The post Ready to Seek Treatment for Your Vein Problems? Here’s How to Find the Best Varicose Vein Treatment Near You appeared first on Comprehensive Integrated Care.

Many of our patients don’t realize this. The fact that they can walk into our CiC offices, have their varicose veins eliminated in minutes, and then walk out and return to work or home is something they take for granted. They assume that varicose vein treatment has always been this fast, effective, and painless.

But it hasn’t. In this article, the vascular experts at Comprehensive Integrated Care (CiC) explain what “treating varicose veins” used to be like. Then we’ll talk about what it is today. We think that when you understand how much vein treatment has improved in just a few years, you’ll better appreciate the care you receive at CiC.

What varicose vein removal was like a few decades ago

Most women (and men) who had varicose veins pretty much had to live with them. Conservative treatment such as wearing support stockings could help to minimize the symptoms, but couldn’t make the swollen veins go away. One of the only treatments that could remove varicose veins permanently was called “vein stripping.” And, yes, it was often as grueling as it sounds. A surgeon had to make incisions along the length of the diseased veins, and then literally scrape them out with a scalpel. Naturally, this had to be done in a hospital and under general anesthesia. As you can imagine, recovery from this procedure was long and painful. Also, the incisions often left scars that were as unattractive as the varicose veins had been.

Relax – modern varicose vein treatment at our CiC Tempe and Sun City locations isn’t anything like this

Among the advances in medicine that have been made since the age of “vein stripping,” two additional breakthroughs changed the nature of venous medicine forever. The first was the invention of ultrasound. Ultrasound gave doctors an inexpensive, portable technology to visualize diseased veins without breaking the skin to see them. This made possible a whole new way of diagnosing vein disease.

The second advance was the specialty of Interventional Radiology (IR). IR allows vascular doctors to treat varicose veins in a minimally-invasive manner. Instead of making incisions in the skin to expose the diseased veins, vein doctors can insert a tiny needle or catheter directly into the veins. They then guide it into place using ultrasound and use a number of techniques to seal the veins and close them permanently.

The advantages of this approach are obvious. Minimally-invasive procedures are so painless that in most cases only local anesthetics are needed. This means they can be performed in the comfort of your Tempe or Sun City vein clinics, with no need to go to a hospital. The procedures are so gentle that they require almost no “recovery time.” Most patients literally walk in, have their varicose veins treated in less than an hour, and walk out.

Modern varicose vein treatment options work better, too

Because there are no incisions, only a pin-prick, there is no scarring. Once the diseased veins are closed, they shrink, are absorbed into surrounding tissue, and disappear. Modern varicose vein removal is so effective that it has close to a 100% success rate.

Here are some of the treatment options we specialize in

At Comprehensive Integrated Care, vascular doctors like Dr. Karen Garby, Dr. Jeff Braxton, Dr James McEown and Dr Michael Makki are among Arizona’s most respected vascular specialists. They have years of experience performing a number of cutting-edge, IR-based varicose vein treatment options.

We’ll describe some of these procedures below, including links that will allow you to read more about them on our website if you want more information:

• Sclerotherapy. This technique is used to treat visible spider veins. With this procedure, we insert a very fine needle into the vein and inject a medication that causes the vein to close. The closed vein is then gradually absorbed by the body until all traces of the veins on the surface of the skin disappear. More than one session may be required.
• Radiofrequency Ablation. This procedure treats the underlying cause of bulging varicose veins. Using ultrasound, a catheter is inserted into the malfunctioning vein and radiofrequency energy is used to heat the vein, causing it to close. The blood is re-routed to normal, healthy veins and symptoms improve within days. 
• Endovenous Laser Ablation. Similar to radiofrequency ablation, a laser fiber is inserted into the malfunctioning vein. Laser energy is used to heat the vein, causing it to close. 
• Medical Adhesive (Like Super Glue). Finally, we are specialists in the use of the latest technique called Venaseal that uses a medical adhesive to close the malfunctioning vein. Benefits of this approach are that the glue sets within minutes, and there is no need for the heat associated with other types of treatment plus there is no need to wear compression stockings afterward.

If you want to learn more about these state-of-the-art varicose vein treatment options in Tempe or Sun City, give our specialists a call at 888-377-7122. Or go online on our CiC website to schedule an appointment. Our talented team of vein experts are happy to assist you.

The post Doctors from the Best Vascular Clinic in Tempe and Sun City Discuss the Variety of Modern Varicose Vein Treatments appeared first on Comprehensive Integrated Care.

As varicose vein specialists in Tempe and Sun City, we have to tell you that the short answer to this question is “Yes.” But the longer, more complete answer is more complicated. It is a mix of both good news and bad news:

• Good News. If your legs and ankles are free from varicose veins before you become pregnant, chances are good that they’ll remain that way. 60-70% of pregnant women give birth without them occurring.
• Bad News. On the other hand, varicose veins do occur during pregnancy in 30-40% of women. That’s a pretty large percentage.
• Good News. Most of the visible varicose veins that appear during pregnancy go away naturally, within three months of giving birth.
• Bad News. If you develop varicose veins during your first pregnancy, the odds are that you will also develop them again during later pregnancies or see them persist between pregnancies.
• Good News. If you do develop varicose veins, the vascular experts at Comprehensive Integrated Care (CiC) can guide you on how to treat them effectively, both during pregnancy (with conservative methods like compression hose and healthy eating) as well as afterwards. Modern varicose vein treatment with CiC is gentle, safe, and doesn’t even require you to go to a hospital.

Why are varicose veins more prevalent during pregnancy?

Blame nature. The volume of blood in your veins increases when you are pregnant. This puts additional pressure on the vein walls, causing them to weaken. At the same time, your body is flooded with hormones that cause the veins to expand and the weight of the baby puts direct pressure on the largest vein in the body, called the vena cava. This vena cava distributes blood to all the other veins in your body, so there can be a “domino effect” of increased internal pressure on smaller veins in the legs and ankles. All of these factors increase your likelihood of developing varicose veins.

Should I seek treatment if I develop varicose veins when pregnant?

If you experience negative symptoms associated with the varicose veins, it’s a good idea to consult with a varicose vein expert at one of our CiC locations in Tempe and Sun City. Such symptoms can include leg pain, muscle cramps, swollen achy legs, skin itchiness near the affected veins, or restless leg syndrome (feeling of creepy crawlies in the legs).

If you have varicose veins and experience symptoms like this, CiC vein specialists can tell you whether or not you need treatment with a Vein Health Screening. Varicose veins are rarely considered a medical danger. In many cases you can minimize any discomfort by watching your weight, exercising regularly, elevating your legs, and wearing compression stockings. If you’re pregnant and don’t have varicose veins, your CiC doctors can recommend things that can reduce your risk of getting them.

If you develop varicose veins and they don’t go away after you give birth, more good news is that you don’t have to wait until you are finished having children to consider vein removal. In fact, having them removed may be helpful in preventing a recurrence of vein disease during future pregnancies.

So whether you are pregnant or just considering it, give our experts a call at 888-377-7122 or go online if you have any additional questions. Our talented team of vein specialists at our Tempe and Sun City locations are happy to answer them.

The post Doctors from the Best Vein Clinics in Tempe and Sun City Discuss Varicose Veins in Pregnancy appeared first on Comprehensive Integrated Care.