Is serum ferritin level an accurate indicator?
GROUND: Human beings have suffered and sought treatment for disease of veins as early as the recordings of the old testament. The use of irritating sclerosing agents have been and are widely used today to treat varicose veins and telangiectasia. One of the most common and cosmetically significant side effects of sclerosing agents is varying degrees of hyperpigmentation. It has been reported that elevated serum ferritin level plays a role in this postsclerotherapy pigmentation. OBJECTIVE: To support or negate the possibility of a direct correlation between serum ferritin levels and pigmentation postsclerotherapy using for our investigation a patient with hemochromatosis. METHODS: A patient with hemochromatosis having a serum ferritin level of 1200 was treated for spider veins. Clinical and histologic studies were performed pretreatment and posttreatment. RESULTS: There was no clinically apparent hyperpigmentation noted on the patient after sclerotherapy over a 6-month period. Histology
