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Chasing away spider veins
By: Marcie Fraser

Susan Petersen seldom wears shorts because of her spider veins.

"They were very obvious to see, you know, because they were purpley and blue veins that were sticking out," she said.

Vascular surgeon Dr. Frank Fort said spider, or varicose veins, affect mostly women, and they get worse with age.

"It's abnormal condition and blood pools in this vein and become more obvious."

Said Susan, "They just looked unsightly, they weren't painful at all."

Susan underwent sclerotherapy, a process where the veins are injected with an FDA approved substance.

"It's a chemical irritant and it burns the lining of the spider vein. That burned damaged spider vein is reabsorbed by the body."

Each session lasts 30 minutes. After the area is cleaned, each spider vein is injected with a tiny, nearly painless needle. If you watch carefully, you can see the vein actually disappear in seconds.

For those who hate needles or have tiny veins, Dr. Fort uses the laser. The leg is prepped with a conducting gel and each area is zapped.

"Laser's got a futuristic sounding appeal to it," said Dr. Fort. "People believe it's a cutting edge, but if you compare laser with sclerotherapy, sclerotherapy is still the gold standard."

For many reasons, sclerotherapy may be the way to go. It's more cost effective. One hundred and sixty dollars a session, versus $250 for the laser. It's also more time efficient. To get the same results of one sclerotherapy session, you may have to go up to three times for laser.

Both treatments are 90 percent effective. Because the procedure is considered cosmetic, most insurance plans do not cover the cost.

Side effects are rare. "Some patients get a little brown staining which disappear over six months to a year and other patients may get something called a matting, which is a formation of the tiny spider veins."

Susan is happy with her outcome. "Well summertime is coming, so I'll probably wear shorts again. Yeah!"

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