Compression therapy is often used to improve blood flow in the lower extremities. There are a number of venous conditions you can treat with compression therapy like varicose veins, spider veins, chronic venous insufficiency, and more. A huge portion of the population in the United States report venous conditions at least once in their life. But thanks to technological innovation, devices, and evaluation methods, not everyone has to live with these conditions. Not only can compression therapy improve blood flow through your veins, but it can also complement treatments for various venous conditions.
At Vein Center Doctor, we offer residents in New York and New Jersey various treatments that can effectively treat the appearance and potential side effects of venous conditions. For venous treatment, compression therapy is combined with other treatments to speed up the healing process. Through compression therapy, patients can improve their blood flow by providing support to their weak vein valves and speeding up the healing process after our minimally-invasive procedures that deal with closing up damaged veins.
If you’re interested in learning more about venous compression therapy and how it can improve your appearance and treat symptoms from various venous conditions, schedule a consultation with our vein specialist Dr. Rahul Sood at Vein Center Doctor today. We provide free compression stockings for all consultations.
What Is Compression Therapy?
Compression therapy is the use of compression equipment like garments (such as compression hosiery, stockings, socks, or sleeves), compression wraps or bandages, and other tools like compression boots or compressed air devices. These devices have padding that applies additional external pressure to the treated area of your body, which in turn pressures your blood vessels and causes them to transport blood flow faster. This increase in blood flow can provide a number of benefits.
For venous conditions, compression therapy is used on top of the other effective treatments used to treat damaged veins. Coupled together, the improved blood flow can speed up the recovery period by helping the body absorb the scarred tissue that remains of the treated vein section. This allows your body to heal quicker and mitigate the after-effects of your venous treatment.
Why Does Compression Therapy Help with Venous Conditions?
If you have spider or varicose veins and are seeking to improve the appearance of your legs or to find relief from symptoms related to chronic venous insufficiency, compression therapy won’t help on its own. While it can improve blood pressure by compressing the area around the damaged vein, it’s not going to heal the valve and get it working properly again.
The best solution is to close off the vein and then use compression therapy’s benefits of increased blood flow to speed up the recovery process. After you schedule your consultation, Dr. Sood can sit down with you to discuss the best course of treatment for cosmetic or other vein-related issues.
Benefits of Venous Compression Therapy
Compression therapy won’t cure damaged valves and weak veins. But its effect on blood flow can benefit your effective treatment plan from Vein Center Doctor by speeding up your body’s natural healing process. Some of the benefits you can receive from venous compression therapy include:
Faster Healing Time
Depending on the severity of your venous condition, treatment time for problems like spider veins, varicose veins, chronic venous insufficiency, and other symptoms caused by venous issues can range from six weeks up to four months.
Most treatments for vein conditions work by isolating the damaged vein portion by closing up its walls and redirecting blood flow to other veins. With no blood flowing through it, the broken vein turns into scar tissue with the help of collagen and elastin, which are then absorbed by your body. Through improved blood flow, parts of your blood like the platelets and plasma responsible for cell and blood clots can repair and absorb the broken vein faster.
Prevent Chronic Venous Insufficiency and Varicose Veins
On top of this, wearing compression stockings can manage the discomfort of varicose veins in particular. By adding external pressure around the damaged vein, you can reduce the swelling and inflammation by mitigating the pooled blood within the vein. After treatment, your compression device can help with improved blood flow, which can help patients with chronic venous insufficiency from developing more varicose veins.
Assist in Healing Venous Leg Ulcers
Varicose veins can result in further complications like leg ulcers. With poor blood circulation on the damaged vein, wounds in the area can take longer to heal or don’t heal at all, which can lead to infections that can go as deep as the skeletal muscle and bone (osteomyelitis).
Compression therapy is a good way to speed up the healing process not just for the varicose vein, but the leg ulcer as well. After the ulcer is properly cleaned and dressed, patients can wear compression stockings during their recovery period, which can increase blood flow to the area and improve cell healing and repair. It can also help manage the symptoms of leg ulcers and prevent new ulcers from developing.
At Vein Center Doctor, we can couple venous treatment with compression therapy to maximize your treatment plan. By using your effective venous treatment and the benefits of compression therapy, you can recover from your venous condition while minimizing the discomfort and duration of your treatment. Book your consultation with our vein specialists to receive your own custom treatment plan.
What Causes Your Venous Conditions?
At Vein Center Doctor, our specialists treat a variety of cosmetic and medical vein conditions for holistic health management. But when should a person visit our specialists at Vein Center Doctor for venous conditions? Venous conditions like spider veins, varicose veins, and chronic venous insufficiency are caused by damaged veins and weak venous valves.
Each vein and artery is part of your cardiovascular system that’s responsible for transporting blood back to the heart. This one-way blood flow is thanks to valves in every artery and vein that pumps blood towards the heart. But due to several causes, some veins are damaged and some valves start becoming weaker and perform less efficiently. These causes can include:
- Weight Gain – some valves – especially those on your legs, ankles, and feet – work twice as hard to overcome gravity and pump blood upwards to your heart. Increased weight to the point of obesity can make it harder for blood to flow, resulting in valves working harder and wearing out faster.
- Stress – increases your blood pressure and triggers inflammation, which can result in your valves working faster. Stress has also been linked to weight gain.
- Pregnancy – pregnant women have increased blood volume, which increases blood pressure and causes smaller veins to swell. Pregnancy also changes a woman’s hormones and often leads to weight gain.
- Hormonal Imbalance – certain types of hormones can make veins dilate and cause inflammation, which can affect the valves’ ability to prevent reverse blood flow in the opposite direction.
- Age – older adults are more susceptible to high blood pressure, deep vein thrombosis, and weaker valves.
- Genetics – studies show that genetics plays a role in causing a birth defect that can lead to venous conditions or genetic cardiovascular diseases that can affect arterial vessels and result in varicose veins. If your family history includes varicose veins, it’s highly likely for you to develop this, too.
- Trauma – injuries can cause damage to internal areas of your body, including damage to the structure of your veins and deep vein thrombosis in areas impacted by the injury.
As a result of any of these, blood pools into a specific portion of the veins. If left untreated, it can develop into several venous conditions: spider veins (colored veins visible through your skin), varicose veins (swollen veins that can be painful and can lead to ulcers), or chronic venous insufficiency (an issue where the vein doesn’t allow blood to flow back into the heart, leading to either varicose veins or spider veins).
Treatment for spider veins is mostly for cosmetic purposes, as the visible dark-colored lines can make patients feel conscious about their skin. Treatment for both varicose veins and chronic venous insufficiency, on the other hand, is a combination of cosmetic treatment to manage the appearance of veins while also preventing further complications like ulcers, chronic pain, and infections that can affect your quality of life.
If you have leg ulcers and signs of venous conditions, schedule an appointment with Vein Center Doctor. Led by Dr. Rahul Sood, our team of vein specialists can help diagnose your condition through a physical analysis and other laboratory and medical imaging tests. From there, a physician can develop a custom treatment plan based on your report to manage your conditions and then, if possible, recommend compression devices to improve your body’s healing process.
Vein Center Doctor’s Varicose Vein Treatments
At Vein Center Doctor, we offer several treatments for damaged veins. The efficacy of minimally-invasive conservative management treatments can help close the damaged vein and trigger your body’s natural healing process to absorb the remaining scar tissue. Compression therapy can complement these treatments by promoting blood flow, speeding up the healing process, and minimizing the side effects during the recovery period.
Sclerotherapy
The most popular treatment for venous conditions like spider veins and varicose veins is sclerotherapy. A sclerotic solution is injected directly into the affected veins, forcing the damaged portion to close. The blood redirects to healthier veins while the old vein turns into scar tissue that your body will eventually absorb.
Radiofrequency Ablation
Radiofrequency ablation uses radiofrequency energy to heat the damaged and unhealthy blood vessels, causing scar tissue to form and close up the vein. Your blood flow will be naturally redirected to other veins while your body absorbs the scar tissue.
Endovenous Laser Treatment
Endovenous laser treatment is usually the laser therapy of choice for spider veins and varicose vein procedures. With the use of laser technology that uses an ultrasound to guide the laser fiber, endovenous laser treatment heats and closes up any unhealthy blood vessels.
VenaSeal
Like our other treatments, VenaSeal requires no surgeon with its minimally-invasive process. An FDA-approved “vein glue” is injected into the affected vein to act as a safe adhesive. This closes the vein and allows your body to eventually re-absorb it while your blood flow is redirected to other veins.
Why Choose Vein Center Doctor for Venous Treatments
Complete, Compassionate Care
Our priority is to make sure patients are comfortable from diagnosis to treatment. Our treatment packages are designed to help patients recover both physically and mentally from their condition. The sooner you treat your condition, the sooner you can take steps to prevent a relapse. We work tirelessly to give you the confidence to own your skin and be free from venous conditions altogether. We do everything from cosmetic treatments to more functional therapy.
Insurance Coverage
At Vein Center Doctor, our staff’s goal is to make top-level vein health care accessible. We accept most major insurance plans, including Magnacare, Anthem, BlueCross, Cigna, and Qualcare. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with our staff for more information on partnered insurance providers.
Quick Procedures with Minimal Downtime
Our clinic offers several minimally-invasive treatment options for various venous problems like spider veins, varicose veins, chronic venous, insufficiency, and more. We don’t provide cookie-cutter treatment plans and can recommend which treatment methods are best for your condition.
Vein Center Doctor: Venous Compression Therapy in New Jersey and New York
Compression therapy can be a beneficial addition to your treatment plan. On top of improving blood flow, it can help speed up the healing process, manage the symptoms of your condition, and prevent future venous conditions from reappearing on the treated area. With the right treatment plan with conservative management options, you can avoid the cosmetic pitfalls and medical risks of developing venous issues and improve your quality of life.
At Vein Center Doctor, we provide our patients with a comfortable experience with our minimally invasive and effective practices to treat venous conditions. With the help of our staff, you can receive individualized treatment plans that can help the appearance and discomfort caused by your condition. Schedule a consultation with us to receive your free compression stockings and learn more about our venous treatments combined with compression therapy.
FAQs About Venous Compression Therapy
Q: Who can benefit from compression therapy?
A: Anyone with venous conditions like spider veins, varicose veins, chronic venous insufficiency can benefit from compression therapy from Vein Center Doctor. However, compression therapy is also used in hospital procedures and other practices. People who have undergone surgery or procedures that have damaged blood vessels can use compression garments to speed up their recovery. Those with poor blood circulation caused by other conditions like diabetes, lymphedema, nerve damage, edema, and other venous, lymphatic, and circulatory diseases can benefit from compression therapy. Athletes and people with active lifestyles also use compression therapy to improve blood flow.
Q: Is compression therapy painful?
A: Compression therapy isn’t painful, but the tightness may be uncomfortable for first-time users. If you’re using compression therapy on top of treatments for leg ulcers or varicose veins, you may experience mild to moderate pain during your first few weeks of recovery. Other symptoms like moderate pain and inflammation are normal.
Q: What are some ways to prevent venous ulcers?
A: Preventing venous conditions like varicose veins is an effective way to ensure you don’t develop leg ulcers. Some causes like traumatic injury may be unavoidable, but certain lifestyle changes can help you avoid varicose veins caused by weight gain and stress. Factors like aging are inevitable, but leading a healthy lifestyle can prevent the risk of venous conditions.
We’re actively doing Venous Compression Therapy in the following nearby locations:
Edison, NJ
Service Areas:
Middletown, NJ
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Riverdale, NJ
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Staten Island, NY
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Poughkeepsie, NY
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Clifton, NJ
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Ardsley, NY
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