There is nothing more frustrating than having your varicose veins treated only to see them return. You’ve just gotten used to showing off your legs proudly without self-consciousness, but now those dark veins are peeking through your skin again. You may be trying to get yourself used to the idea of living with varicose veins forever. However, if you’re willing to go through treatment again, there are some steps you can take to ensure your second treatment is more successful in completely getting rid of your varicose veins than the first.

Make Sure Your Doctor Is Qualified

If a general practitioner, cosmetic surgeon, or dermatologist performed your first treatment, consider having your second treatment performed by a phlebologist. Phlebologists are doctors that specialize in treating vein disorder. After completing their medical degree, these doctors go through several years of additional study in order to become experts in venous disease and its treatment. They are also specialists in vascular ultrasound technology, which is an important part of treating your varicose veins. Find a phlebologist in your area.

Make Sure You Get an Ultrasound

One common reason that varicose veins return is that not all damaged veins were properly treated. Often times the veins that can be seen visibly are treated, but veins that are not visible are neglected. If your treatment did not treat all of your veins—even those that weren’t visible through your skin—the untreated veins will inevitably grow and will eventually become visible over time.

The only way to completely get rid of varicose veins is to have all of your damaged veins treated, and the only way to determine the full extent of your damaged veins is to have an ultrasound mapping of your venous disorder before treatment begins. The ultrasound allows your doctor to identify and map out all damaged veins so that all can be treated and eradicated.

Avoid Vein Stripping

Vein stripping was the original treatment for varicose veins, but it is considered outdated now due to its ineffectiveness, the long recovery time required after the procedure, and the invasiveness of the procedure. Vein stripping carries many risks—among them is that stripped veins will just grow back after treatment and will need to be removed again. If your original treatment was vein stripping, you will likely have much more success eradicating your varicose veins with a more current treatment.

More current treatments like sclerotherapy and laser therapy require little recovery, carry less risk, and have a much higher success rate of ridding you of varicose veins for good. After having an ultrasound, your doctor can recommend the treatment that is best for your condition.

Cost of Treatment

While it’s frustrating to have to pay for treatment more than once, following the steps above will make it much more likely that your treatment will be successful the second time around. To determine the likely cost of having your veins treated again, use our cost calculator.