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By John P Landi, MD, FACS, RPVI, RPhS, Diplomate of The American Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine
When most people think of having veins treated, they are usually concerned with spider veins and varicose veins on their legs. However, with increasing frequency over the last ten years, there is a growing interest in eradicating ugly hand veins and with the advent of modern venous treatment techniques such as laser and sclerotherapy, hand veins can be safely treated in the office under local anesthesia.
Although both men and women develop prominent hand veins with age, women are usually more self conscious about them. Hand veins tend to become larger and more obvious due to loss of fat volume and muscle tone that occurs with the aging process. In fact, the same tissue deflation that occurs in the aging face occurs in the aging hand. The areas that are the telltale signs of aging are the face, neck and hands.
There are basically two types of hand veins, smaller and larger. Smaller veins can be treated by sclerotherapy (injecting them with a solution) and the larger veins are best treated by inserting a laser into the vein (endovenous) and dissolving the vein just as is done in treating leg veins. This procedure is done under local anesthesia and cosmetically very satisfactory.
The procedure to threat hand veins requires about one hour (one half hour per hand). Both hands are done at the same time and several follow up visits may be necessary. There is essentially no downtime with return to full activities the next day. Usually overnight compressions of the hands is required with an ace bandage and no pain medicine is required.
Vanish Vein and Laser Center
North Park Center 9955 Tamiami Trail North,
Suite 3, Naples, FL 34108
(99th Avenue North across from the entrance of Pelican Marsh)
(239) 403-0800
www.vanishvein.com
