San Francisco Vein Treatment doctors

Most insurance plans have specific exclusions for cosmetic procedures. Each plan may use different language, but the end result is the same. Unless you are having a lot of pain that interferes with your daily activities, your insurance plan will probably consider any treatment for varicose veins as cosmetic, and as such it will not be covered. It sounds as though you would not qualify for insurance reimbursement - regardless of how ugly they are.

Thank you for your question.

Facial capillaries and spider veins around the nose and on the cheeks are common complaints that patients seek treatment for. In our San Francisco Bay Area practice we have had tremendous success reducing the appearance of these vessels with our Nd:Yag laser. 

As with all capillary/vein treatments several sessions may be required to achieve optimal results and capillaries may return or new capillaries may form in the future that require maintenance treatments.

I hope this helps.

Varicose veins are almost never formed in isolation; there is most often, a deeper, larger, vein that is "incompetent" that connects to the superficial, visible varicose vein. This is the "Venous Reflux" disease that you have heard of.

This refluxing vein is usually the greater or lesser saphenous vein with valves that are not functioning normally.   These root cause veins typically give rise to the varicose veins seen on the surface, and thus, to treat the varicose most effectively, the incompetent saphenous vein needs to be diagnosed first with a duplex ultrasound.  Once identified, the vein can be treated with laser or radiofrequency (EVLT or VNUS), and the microphlebectomies performed at the same time to remove the varicose veins.  This can most often be performed under local anesthesia under 1 hr.   To simply treat the varicose veins with sclero/laser without treating the root cause will lead to multiple recurrences and failed treatments. 

The most common causes of varicose veins is largely genetic with a higher female prevalance.    Lifestyle issues with pregnancy, obesity, and work (people who stand on their feet all day), can tip the balance to forming varicose veins.