Do I Need An Ultrasound Scan Before I Have My Spider Veins Treated?
Sunday, May 11, 2014 at 8:48PM | By Dr Nicholas Kemp 
About 25% of people presenting for treatment of telangiectasia or spider veins on their legs will have incompetence of deeper veins. Proceeding with treatment of surface veins before treating deeper incompetent veins increases the chance of a poor outcome and raises the risk of complications such as post sclerotic pigmentation and matting. Therefore a duplex ultrasound scan of the superficial and deep veins of the leg is best practice in the treatment of leg vein telangiectasia.
If you are considering treatment of spider veins please ensure your doctor undertakes a thorough ultrasound assessment before proceeding to treatment. Dr Kemp has been certified by the University of Sydney to perform such venous ultrasound examinations at The Leg Vein Doctor clinics in Brisbane and Toowoomba.
Thibault P, Bray A, Wlodarczyk J, Lewis J: Cosmetic leg veins: evaluation using duplex venous imaging, J Dermatol Surg Oncol 16:612, 1990