What causes vein problems like spider veins and varicose veins?

It is known that heredity, being female, pregnancy, and age are the most common causes of varicose and spider veins. Other causes could be related to obesity, trauma and standing for long periods of time, but research is still ongoing to discover if these are definitive causes of spider veins and varicose veins.

Venous insufficiency is the medical condition in which the valves in the lower extremities do not function properly, causing a variety of symptoms and conditions such as varicose and spider veins. Venous insufficiency is synonymous with venous reflux.

Venous reflux occurs when veins become weak and the valves in the veins become faulty. Normally, veins in the lower extremities carry blood to the heart against gravity. This is accomplished by one-way valves, which allow blood to flow upwards while your muscles contract. When your muscles relax, the valves snap shut preventing blood to flow in the wrong direction (towards your feet). When venous reflux occurs due to faulty valves, blood is allowed to flow in the wrong direction. This puts excess pressure on the vein walls, which causes them to expand further. This expansion causes the valves to become even more ineffective. The most common veins to reflux are called saphenous veins. Visible varicose and spider veins are typically branches coming off these veins.

When should I consult a doctor?

That’s a really good question. If you think there’s a problem because of how your legs feel, or you are noticing new visible issues, then you should consult a vein specialist. Vein issues aren’t always obvious. Often, even if you can’t see varicose veins or spider veins, when you’re suffering from aching leg pain, fatigue/heaviness of the legs, or swelling and pruritus (itchy legs), it could be due to vein health issues.

As you may have already realized, these symptoms usually get worse as the day progresses. Maybe you get some temporary relief when you elevate your legs, or maybe you’re noticing additional symptoms such as restless legs, night cramps, and skin color changes or even bleeding skin ulcers in more severe cases.

But here’s the good news — safe, effective treatments are readily available. You can get your legs back to health in a virtually painless way, that improves the way you feel, how you move, and how you look.

Is vein health treatment covered by insurance?

Most insurance companies cover varicose vein treatment if the medical condition causes symptoms that limit activities of your daily life. Insurance carriers may require a certain duration of conservative management including: wearing compression stockings, walking, avoidance of prolonged sitting or standing, frequent elevation of affected legs as well as the use of an anti-inflammatory medication.

Understanding insurance benefits can be challenging. We get that. But we don’t want these red-tape obstacles to prevent you from achieving the optimal vein health and well-being you deserve. That’s why we’ll introduce you to someone on our knowledgeable staff who will then be your personal assistant, helping you fully understand your benefits by walking you through the process and even obtaining pre-approval for your treatment from your insurance provider.

If your insurance carrier does not cover treatment, we’ll still do everything we can to make this portion of the treatment equally pain free. Our team will take the extra time to review fees with you, one-on-one, and discuss available payment options, and do everything we can to help make the process easy and convenient. To this end, Miller Vein accepts major credit cards as well as CareCredit.

Are vein treatments painful?

The minimally-invasive treatments at Miller Vein are virtually painless. Our vein health specialist teams are committed to making the procedure gentle with no unnecessary discomfort during any treatment. It is virtually pain-free. Furthermore, unlike cold, sterile doctors’ offices, we’ve done everything we can to make your experience pleasant during procedures, with kind staff, and a warm and relaxing environment.

What kind of experience can I expect?

We often ask for feedback from our patients after their vein treatments. One of the important questions we ask is how was your experience? A consistent set of words we’ve heard over the years is “Unexpectedly extraordinary.” This theme is consistent throughout our entire vein health network, as we have received over 800 physicians referring their patients to us in 2017 alone. Receiving this type of consistent positive feedback is important to everyone on our staff.

Do I have to stay off my feet to get treatment?

You won’t miss a step! Because our treatments are minimally invasive, you are able to resume most normal activities. Complete recovery times vary from person to person. There is no significant recovery time required after spider vein treatment. However, there are some exceptions including: heavy lifting, extreme exercise, and application of heat to the treated extremity. The patient can usually resume heavy exercise in approximately one week.

Do men suffer from vein disease too?

It’s true that women are more likely to develop vein problems—but that doesn’t mean that men are exempt! The truth is anyone with veins may suffer from vein problems at some point during their life, regardless of risk factors such as gender.

Additional resources to help you make the best vein health decisions