What are reticular veins and what is meant by grade 2? I know what bulging varicose veins are, and I don't have those. However, I have green/blue veins close to the surface that are causing minimum symptoms. I have red spider veins, too. What size veins are ideal for sclerotherapy?
Reticular veins are those blue/green veins that crisscross around some people's legs. Spider veins are thin and red. Contrary to what most people think, both the spiders and all the reticular veins are abnormal veins. That said, the green/blue veins that you see on your legs are all abnormal and need to be treated to address vein disease.
When a person is told they have a grade 2 vein disease, it means that they have evidence of vein disease but no evidence of hyperpigmentation, corona P. , dermatitis, atrophy blanche, etc. All of these are signs of chronic vein disease. As for what vein sizes are ideal for sclerotherapy, almost any abnormal vein can be treated with sclerotherapy irregardless of vein diameter. However, larger diameter veins, or veins with a lot of interconnections with other large veins, might need multiple treatments to be successfully eliminated.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Typically, veins that are 2mm or greater that are refluxing are treated as long as they are not superficial enough to be remove by ambulatory phlebectomy, or straight enough to ablate.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Size is less a consideration than malfunction. Spider veins are considered to be defective and can be treated.
Sclerotherapy is still the best treatment for them. Reticular blue veins should exhibit abnormal reflux or appear to feed into spider veins. Reticular flow may be difficult to assess, and some may be normal and left alone. Some reticular veins may bulge at around 4 mm, and these are considered varicose.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Veins larger than 0.5 mm are ideal for sclerotherapy, but an experienced skilled physician can often successfully inject even smaller veins. Class 2 vein disease refers to veins larger than 3 mm in diameter.
Reticular veins are flat bluish-green veins on the surface which often feed spider veins.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
The ideal veins treated via sclerotherapy are up to 2.5 mm.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Only the smallest veins are OK for sclerotherapy (usually 1 mm or less). Larger veins, 1-2 mm, are best treated with foam sclerotherapy.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
All those veins can be properly treated with sclerotherapy, provided that the person that is doing the treatment has enough of experience, uses the right drugs and concentration, the right needles, etc.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
There are different techniques of sclerotherapy that can effectively treat spider veins of varying sizes, including tiny red/blue veins (barely 1-2 mm in diameter), up to larger red/purple/blue spider veins that even bulge off of the skin.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
The ideal size of spider veins for sclerotherapy is 1 to 2 mm, and the ideal size of reticular veins for sclerotherapy is up to around 3 mm. However, even larger size veins and varicose veins can be treated with sclerotherapy. The grade is just a classification of veins from 0 to 6, with each higher number meaning a more significant vein problem.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Usually, the smaller the veins the better for injection. Red, purple, green, and blue veins fit into that category if they are less than 3 mm in diameter.
Published on Jul 11, 2012