What is Sclerotherapy?

Sclerotherapy is a simple, in-office treatment performed by a vein doctor under local anesthesia. The vein doctor raises your affected leg to inspect the spider veins and mark the injection spots. The sclerosant medicine is carefully injected into the spider veins — one injection per spider vein. The vein doctor can directly inject sclerosant if the spider veins are visible, but they may have to use vascular imaging for deeper spider veins.

The sclerosant medicine triggers a chemical response to collapse the diseased veins’ walls, turning them into hardened scar tissues. Over time, your body will reabsorb the spider veins, making them fade away from the skin’s surface. The accumulated blood reroutes into healthier leg veins, restoring optimal blood circulation to the heart. This entire treatment concludes within 30 minutes, depending on the number of spider veins.

After delivering the sclerosant medicine, the vein doctor will apply pressure on your legs while you stand up to prevent backward blood circulation. You will have to wear compression stockings for a few days to minimize the risk of recurrence. However, there is no downtime, and you can resume all your daily activities and work immediately. That’s why most patients seek sclerotherapy spider vein treatment during their lunch break.