Published studies show that in 1/3 of cases, such varicose tributaries below the knee will go away completely. In another 1/3, they will not change at all. In the last 1/3, they will get smaller.

REMEMBER, endovenous ablation is FDA approved to treat venous insufficiency, NOT varicose veins. An astute and experienced vein specialist will tell you ahead of time (at the time of consultation) which veins are likely to go away and which will not. I always have this discussion with my patients well BEFORE surgery, at consultation and at stocking follow up. I then remind them for the THIRD time just before I do the procedure so that they have realistic expectations and understand that they will need additional procedure(s) after the ablation(s) for the tributaries.

Inexperienced vein doctors or doctors who dabble in vein procedures and who don't know how to take care of the varicose veins and only know how to do ablation procedures fall into the trap of promising a lot and delivering little.

Published on Jul 11, 2012

Varicose veins are the result of malfunctioning valves along the course of the saphenous vein. Closing the leaking valves may shrink the size of the varicose veins but, in most cases, the veins will still need to be treated either by sclerotherapy or removal by microphlebectomies.

Published on Jul 11, 2012

If the vein causing your varicose (bulging) veins is the long saphenous vein (or also known as the greater saphenous vein), it is normally treated from above the varicose veins up to the groin to seal it and stopping the reflux (back flow). As a vascular trained surgeon, I would at the same time remove the bulging veins below this area using microphlebectomy (tiny punctures and a small hook to take out sections of vein). The reason the bulging veins are down there is they are kind of a pressure relief valve from the reflux of the vein above.

Published on Jul 11, 2012

About a 50% chance. It depends if the varices still have elastic recoil.

Published on Jul 11, 2012