There is a perception that varicose vein treatment is very debilitating and takes a long period of recovery. In decades past, surgeons used to do varicose vein operations in hospitals under general anesthesia. The surgeon would put a stripping device into the vein and pull it out, stripping the vein as the device exited the body. These operations aren’t the standard of care anymore. Now we have ultrasound and thin laser fiber technology to perform treatment in a doctor’s office, under mild sedation and minimal invasion. This makes the treatment so much more safe, since we have eliminated general anesthesia, and the painful and slow recovery of the past. Thank goodness for advancements in science and technology!

Here is an example of a laser ablation that we were doing in Nicaragua. The patient is not sedated or on pain medicine of any kind.