What are the alternative therapies?
Sclerotherapy uses either saline or a filler that is injected into the vessel. This procedure is better for large vessels (1cm) and is not a very good choice for fine vessels due to difficulty getting the needle into such a small lumen. There is about a 40%-60% failure rate depending on skill of the injector and what is injected. Patients are required to wear compression stockings for about a week afterward. Average cost $350-$500 for 30 minutes of treatment. Most common side effect: bruising (tends to be worse than with laser due to the physical puncture in the vessel where the blood leaks out into the soft tissue).
