Brookings Health System

News

The season for shorts, swimsuits, and sunscreen is here. However, if you find yourself covering your legs to hide painful, unattractive varicose veins, help is available. Brookings Health System offers a minimally invasive procedure to help you get ready for summer.

Varicose veins are blue, swollen lumps that occur in about 15 percent of all adults, causing many people to feel self conscious about their legs. These veins can cause aching, pain, swelling, and poor circulation in your legs, in addition to increasing your risk for blood clots.

Why Do They Form?

When blood returns to the heart through the veins in the legs, valves open and close to prevent blood from fl owing downward. When a valve does not work properly, blood can build up and create extra weight, causing additional valves in the circuit to stop working until the vein finally bulges due to the weight of the extra blood.

Finding a Solution

Brookings Health System offers a simple procedure called endovenous laser therapy to eliminate varicose veins. The area is numbed using a local anesthetic, a small incision is made, and a laser fiber is inserted and positioned for treatment.

The laser collapses the vein using thermal energy, and surrounding veins then deliver blood to the heart. The procedure usually takes less than two hours, after which patients can resume normal activity with minimal pain.

To order a FREE brochure on endovenous laser therapy, call (605) 696-7768.