Ambulatory Phlebectomy

Skin incisions as small as 1 mm or needle punctures using an 18-gauge needle or larger are used to extract veins with a phlebectomy hook. The procedure is well tolerated by patients under local anesthesia and typically produces good cosmetic results. Long-term results from the authors’ experience are excellent as long as the most proximal source of reflux is eliminated by endovenous ablation techniques. In contrast to sclerotherapy of large varicose veins, ambulatory phlebectomy minimizes the risks of intra-arterial injection, skin necrosis, and residual hyperpigmentation. The source vein is extracted by the procedure.

Traditional venous ligation is no longer considered an acceptable method because the vein is interrupted rather than removed, leading to relatively high recurrence rates. With ambulatory phlebectomy, the small size of the skin incision or puncture usually results in little or no scarring. Only performed under local anesthesia, ambulatory phlebectomy leads to greatly reduced surgical risks compared with traditional surgery for truncal (axial), reticular varicose veins and incompetent perforators.

Laura P.

I had unsightly veins that ultimately caused me to be too self-conscious to wear skirts or shorts. I first paid several hundred dollars to a laser dermatologist to remove the veins...

Other Services