Although usually non-threatening, varicose veins are an eyesore and can cause a lot of pain when they emerge. So people want to get rid of them as soon as they can. There are many ways to remove them, some of which are painful. Laser treatment, on the other hand, is not painful at all. But the real question is, is laser treatment safe for varicose veins?
Laser treatments are very safe for varicose veins. Not only do they not hurt, but they also have almost no side effects. The few side effects there are, don’t last longer than a couple of hours at most. You can also go back to your usual day-to-day activities right after your treatment is done.
Let’s take a look at how laser treatment works for varicose veins and why they are safe.
Is laser treatment for varicose veins safe?
Up until the 1980s, treating varicose veins meant having invasive surgeries, it didn’t matter if a laser was used to do so. But since then, varicose vein treatment has come a long way. Not only do you not need to have surgeries to treat your varicose veins that pop up in your legs, but you can also be done with the entire procedure within an hour and return to your normal life straight away.
This begs the question, how does laser treatment work for varicose veins so that they are so safe? Since varicose veins have an unnatural amount of blood flowing through them which causes them to sell up, the goal is to restrict the blood flow in these veins and reroute it. To do that, laser lights are being used to heat the veins.
When an adequate amount of light has been directed onto the veins, the light is converted into heat energy, which then causes the vein to collapse. As a result, the blood in the varicose veins is redirected through other healthier veins. The collapsed veins then disappear after a short time.
But why is it so much safer to have a laser treatment than to have surgeries? There are plenty of reasons for this. They are:
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They are not very invasive:
One of the advantages of having laser treatments instead of surgeries is that they are not very invasive. Only one type of laser treatment nowadays has anything to do with something penetrating your skin, and even then, you won’t feel anything.
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You recover faster:
The recovery time from laser treatments is faster than that from surgeries. You can return to your normal activities right after a laser vein removal, whereas after surgery, you will need quite a lot of time to fully recover.
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Other parts of your skin don’t get affected:
The method of laser treatment for varicose veins only targets the particular area where the vein has popped up. Due to the preciseness of the procedure, the surrounding area of the skin doesn’t get affected by the laser.
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The treatment is fast:
It takes a very short time to complete the laser treatment procedure compared to other traditional methods. As a result, you don’t have to spend hours and hours in the doctor’s chamber, rather you will be done with the entire procedure within a couple of hours at most.
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Suitable for every skin type:
One of the biggest advantages of laser treatment to get rid of varicose veins is that it suits all types of skin. So no matter what type of skin you have, you won’t have any scars or rashes once you are done with the laser treatment.
Is laser treatment for varicose veins painful?
Since the procedure of laser treatment for removing varicose veins include laser light being converted into high heat, naturally people wonder, “Does laser vein removal hurt?” Let’s see.
Before the procedure begins, the area with the varicose vein will be anesthetized by the doctor, so you won’t feel any pain even if something penetrates your skin. Also, after the procedure, cases, where patients feel pain, are very rare. So, is laser vein removal painful? Not really.
How many types of laser treatments are there for vein removal?
There are quite a few laser treatment procedures for you if you want your varicose veins removed. They are:
Laser Ablation:
If you have a smaller varicose vein, then this is the right procedure for you as it uses a laser of a lower frequency to get rid of small veins.
EVLT:
EVLT or Endovenous laser treatment is used to get rid of varicose veins that are either larger or a bit deeper under the skin or both. This procedure includes the doctor inserting a very thin fiber into the vein by making a small incision on the skin above it. The laser is used to heat the fiber and the vein so that it collapses.
RFA:
RFA or Radiofrequency Ablation uses the same method as the aforementioned EVLT. The only difference is EVLT uses laser while the RFA uses radiofrequency. Other than that, there aren’t any major differences between them.
Final Words-
Varicose veins should be gotten rid of as soon as possible by using laser treatment instead of surgery. But as it involves a lot of heat, people often wonder “Is laser treatment safe for varicose veins?” As surrounding skin tissue is unaffected, you don’t have to think twice before getting this treatment.
FAQs
1. What is the safest treatment for varicose veins?
There are a lot of treatments available for removing varicose veins. Among them, the safest treatment is laser treatment. They are the least invasive, least painful, and quickest of all the laser treatments out there.
2. Do varicose veins come back after laser treatment?
It is extremely rare for a varicose to come back once laser treatment is done on it. But sometimes a varicose vein can reappear once it has been removed. This process is called recanalization.
3. What is the best non-surgical treatment for varicose veins?
There are a lot of treatments for varicose veins that do not need surgery. These are sclerotherapy, laser treatment, phlebectomy, ablation, etc. The best one among these is laser treatment.
