Many older adults who suffer from varicose veins, spider veins, or other forms of vein disease avoid treatment for their conditions, because they are afraid of the possible risks of the treatments themselves. This is lamentable, because without proper treatment most vein diseases only get worse, causing a number of complications that greatly reduce these people’s quality of life. To clear up these concerns, in this article we will discuss how safe modern vein disease treatment is, especially for older patients.
One of the major causes of vein disease is aging. Yes, it can strike people in their 50s, 40s, 30s, and even 20s, but the vast majority of vein disease is seen in men and women over the age of 60. As a result, most of the advances in medical science that have created modern vein disease treatment methodologies have been developed with an older treatment group in mind. If you think about it, this makes sense – if most of your patients are likely to be over the age of 60, you design treatments that are safe for people over the age of 60.
Many older adults are afraid of even seeking diagnostic treatment for their varicose veins or chronically swollen legs and ankles, because they are afraid the diagnostic procedures will be painful or traumatic. This is not true of modern vein disease screening procedures. The diagnostic procedures used to detect vein disease are non-invasive, meaning that they do not break the skin or invade a body cavity. Technologies such as the use of Doppler ultrasound to look beneath the surface of the skin to visualize blood flow or locate blood clots enable your vascular doctors to examine you painlessly, and with no risk.
If the findings of a screening indicate the presence of vein disease, many mild cases are first treated conservatively, using compression stockings to improve blood circulation and lifestyle changes to reduce risk. Both of these treatments are also painless and risk-free, and have the benefit of actually improving the patient’s overall state of health as they’re managing their vein disease.
Most of the risks associated with medical treatment involve the risks associated with invasive surgery. Any time a patient has to go into the hospital and undergo local or general anesthesia for a surgical procedure, there are some risks.
The modern treatment methodologies used in your Boynton Beach vein center avoid almost all of these risks because they are minimally-invasive. Treatments such as sclerotherapy to permanently remove varicose veins are so painless that they require no anesthesia, and involve the use of a tiny catheter that is smaller than the needle used to give you a flu shot. Thus sclerotherapy provides minimal risk and distress to patients in any age group.
Endovenous laser therapy (EVLT) is equally minimally-invasive, whether it is used to treat varicose veins and spider veins, or to remove blood clots caused by DVT. When treating smaller spider veins, South Palm Cardiovascular Associates also offers a newer technology called VeinGogh, which is even gentler because it uses bursts of high-frequency electricity applied to the outer surface of the veins, without even the need to insert a tiny catheter.
Our first responsibility as Boynton Beach vein experts is to our patients, and to their safety. All of the procedures we use have been proven to be safe in clinics worldwide. If you have vein disease, the modern techniques used to treat them should not be a cause of concern for you; your risk from them is so minimal as to be statistically non-existent. But the risks of your vein disease becoming worse if it is not treated are not only real, they are pretty much inevitable. Vein disease doesn’t just go away, and it doesn’t magically get better on its own. So give the best vein doctors in Boynton Beach a call at 561-515-0080 and we’ll answer any questions you might have and address any lingering concerns you might have.
