Painless Laser Vein Treatment?

There was a recent TV feature on Channel 9 Television about laser treatment of varicose veins being painless. Is this true? Pain is certainly minimal in comparison to surgery but people do experience some pain so saying its painless is not entirely true.  The measure of pain is subjective as each individual has different tolerance thresholds for pain.  

Prior to the Laser being turned on and withdrawn through the vein, Tumescent Anaesthetic needs to be injected along the entire length of the vein with a series of needles so that the vein becomes enveloped in an anaesthetic blanket.  These injections are relatively painless but they are not painLESS.

Once the anaesthetic is inserted you can be confident that the laser treatment is completely painLESS no matter what type of laser or frequency of laser is being used.  

Following treatment the anaesthetic takes several hours to wear off and this is when some discomfort might develop.  Any dull ache that might develop which normally would only last a few days can normally be managed with ibuprofen or paracetamol. 

With the use of the newer types of Lasers there is often minimal or next to no pain over the recovery period.  There has been a trend towards the use of lower frequency Lasers (1470nm) which specifically target water in the vein wall rather than the blood inside the vein. The lower power settings required for these new types of Lasers accounts for the significant reduction in post procedural pain. 

New Techniques of Varicose Vein Removal

The traditional technique of Varicose Vein removal by surgical stripping is now becoming obsolete as new technologies introduce other methods. Endovenous Laser Ablation(ELA, ELVT) and Radiofrequency (RF) Ablation have now superseded surgery as the preferred method. There is now more than ten years of long term data using ELA and RF to support these recommendations. 

Clarivein is a recent method.  A spinning catheter scarifies the vein wall as it is withdrawn while at the same time sclerosant is injected. Early results seem encouraging but we await more long term data before providing a recommendation. 

Glue is another more recent method. The Sapheon Venaseal Closure System injects glue into the vein to seal it off. This is being trialed in Europe at the moment and research papers should appear in the Academic journals and we would anticipate publication of results in the Phlebology journals quite soon. 

Yet another new technology is Steam. This method causes thermal damage to the vein wall through puffs of steam. An initial paper appeared in the Journal of Vascular Surgery in 2011 so it will be sometime before we see these procedures being offered in Brisbane and the rest of Australia. 

What all these new techniques are offering to patients with varicose veins is the choice to avoid admission to hospital for vascular surgery and therefore the requirement of a General Anaesthetic.

Foam Sclerotherapy for Fibrovein now approved in Europe.

STD Pharmaceutical has now obtained Marketing Authorization for Fibrovein Foam through the Ministries of Health of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal and the Czech Republic.  The specified approval was for Sodium Tetradecyl Sulphate (Fibrovein) concentrations of 3% and 1% with air:liquid ratios of 3:1 and 4:1.

The Frequency of Varicose Veins in Men and Women.

The Edinburgh Vein Study published in 1999, found that varicose veins are present in 40% of men and 32% of women.

Evans CJ, Fowkes FG, Ruckley CV, Lee AJ.
Prevalence of varicose veins and chronic venous insufficiency in men and women in the general population:
Edinburgh vein study. J Epidemiol Community Health 1999;53:149-53.

Laser Safety & Sterility

The Endovenous Laser Therapy (ELT) prescribed at The Leg Vein Doctor differs from laser therapy offered at some other clinics. At The Leg Vein Doctor we do not use surface lasers to treat veins, the laser used at our clinic is actually inserted in to the vein using a catheter.

As with all medical procedures there are safety standards and models of best practice that have been created in order to ensure that patient and practitioner health is not put at risk.

If you are considering laser treatment for your veins you should check that the varicose vein clinic you have chosen adheres to the following:

• Laser fibres are single use items as they are packaged sterile and so should not be reused as some clinics are reportedly doing to keep costs down. At The Leg Vein Doctor we open the laser fibres in front of the patient and show them thier individual product reference code.


• Safety eyewear should be worn by the patient, doctor and any assistants when the laser is in use.


• The clinic should be licenced for the use of laser on the premises with Queensland Health.

For more information read http://www.thelegveindoctor.com/endovenous-laser-therapy