Had a ten month course worked wonder been off for six months and not one pimple :) couldn't be happier it's life changing. The dry lips are a downfall but it's well worth actually finishing the course your doctor will figure out what dose is best i was on the highest dose and it also made my hair amazing! I'll take it again if need be.
had Asclera injections to address the broken veins, capillaries, and spider veins behind my knee, in my shin area, and all around the foot and ankle. Pretty bad looking. During the treatment I watched as the doctor injected the sclerosing agent (which he almost injected without telling me what was going in my leg!). He explained it was asclera and he's been using it instead of a sodium solution that caused previous patients intense burning pain when injected. The jabs hurt around the ankle, but you could see the vein simply vanish when he injected the solution. After an hour of injections I was done. In retrospect, 1 hour of constant jabbing isn't recommended unless you've dosed up on some advil. I'm about 3 weeks post-treatment. Really happy with the results. Minimal "staining". My only frustration is that I still have small broken areas that he said were too small for the injection. Once I go for the last followup visit the doctor will provide me with before and after photos. I'll post them then.
I am a guy who inherited varicose veins from his mother. Great. For a long time (up until my 30s) I lived with it, wearing long shorts to cover the bulging veins in my left leg. Eventually I grew tired of hiding it and decided to get a consultation to see what could be done, whether insurance would cover the procedure. The first Seattle vein doctor at Swedish Hospital was less than helpful on the insurance front. They asked if I was "wearing hose" which most men I assume would respond negatively to. I said yes, just to help along the insurance claim. I actually had to look up on the web what are hose (they're basically the high compression socks your grandfather wore, but really expensive). Then, I never heard back from the office. I called months later, and found that they really had no clue about my desire to get insurance coverage. That was enough to kick me off the idea of getting the veins treated. A year or so later I was told about Dr. P. That inspired me to try once again to fix the problem. After doing the obligatory ultrasound, I was told that I indeed had severe varicosity in the legs and cosmetic work would help for the numerous related vascularity, like spider veins on my feet, veins on my ankle. The surgery day was actually quite nerve wracking before I took 2 Valium (prescribed by the doc) just prior to the drive to their offices. I pretty much passed out during the surgery, thank god, but woke up at one point to see the doctor repeatedly injecting me with sclerosing agent. The pain was only on my hip pointer. Keeping my leg opened to the side led to cramping. Eventually, I was done, ate a bagel, and headed home. The recovery has been slow. The pain was minimal in recovery, but signs of surgery such as the incision points are still visible. Yet, nearly a year later, I have to say, it's pretty amazing the before-and-after. I've attached pics the doctor gave me after my last followup appointment. Oh, and insurance did cover the medical nature of the procedure (over $6K) and I paid out of pocket for cosmetic work (~$1200). I think I still need more work done, but I've really grown in confidence, wearing shorts again, showing my bare feat, and enjoying my less-veiny life. My one piece of advice is to avoid the hack clinics out there that don't have vascular surgeons. Dr. P is over $300/hour. So doctor selling services under $100/hr is likely underqualified, inexperienced. Updated on 9 Dec 2010: Adding my ratings of the doctor Updated on 14 Dec 2010: I've gone back to the doctor for additional sclerotheraphy injections. Will post a new review when I get the pics back in another several weeks. Updated on 24 May 2011: I forgot to come back and reference my other post regarding injections to remove additional varicosity and spider veins. It's here: http://www.realself.com/review/asclera-spider-veins-bellevue As mentioned in my comment below, I remain really happy with the results. No new signs of vericose veins, just a some broken capillaries here and there.
