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Virginia Hernia Institute goes beyond hernias and treats Varicose Veins as well.
If you suffer from varicose veins, you’re a member of a very large club. Some 25 million Americans face a daily struggle with the swollen, ropey veins that can cause throbbing pain, severe swelling, and heavy, tired legs.

Half of all Americans over 50, and two-thirds of women over 60, have the condition. And many have dealt with it for decades, because varicose veins can appear even in teenagers too young to vote.

Heredity is a factor in venous reflux disease – if your parents or siblings have had varicose veins, you're more likely to develop them – and people who are obese or have had multiple pregnancies are particularly susceptible, because the extra weight adds strain to the veins. Women are more vulnerable to the problem than men, partly because the hormonal changes brought on by menstruation, menopause and hormone-based drug therapy can relax vein walls and cause venous reflux.

Your lifestyle, particularly physical activity, can affect your odds of developing varicose veins as well. People whose careers require them to stand in place for long periods of time – nurses, teachers, waitresses, flight attendants and other service personnel, for example – have a higher-than-average risk of venous disease. So do people who do a good deal of heavy lifting.

Once it appears, venous reflux disease never goes away by itself – it's a progressive condition that can only worsen unless treated. Fortunately, the minimally-invasive, device-based advances in medical technology that have so profoundly impacted heart, lung and brain surgery in recent years are now having a similarly revolutionary impact on the treatment of varicose veins. The next-generation VNUS ClosureFAST™ catheter represents the cutting edge of that technology.

Many procedures have been developed over the years to deal with the problems that varicose veins create. Typically in the past the pain, swelling  and skin changes that these dilated leg veins produced were treated in the hospital by procedures that were often painfull, complicated and left behind a lot of scarring.  Fortunately we live in a time when several minimally invasive procedures have been developed that treat these veins in a more pleasant and less traumatic way.  We have chosen to offer the Closure technique that was developed by VNUS for our patients because it offers excellent durable results that can be offered in a pleasant office setting.  This avoids all the inconvienence of traveling to the hospital for our patients.

VNUS Closure Procedure - This procedure is done in the surgical suite of our  office.  No waiting in the hosptial.  Typicaly the procedure takes 45-60 minutes and you can drive yourself home when we are done. See the VIDEO of the procedure here.

Sclerotherapy- In some cases patients have multiple small dilated veins on their legs that are not causing significant disability but are nevertheless undesirable and in some situations embarassing.  These situations are easily controlled with sclerotherapy. Once we have determined that the VNUS CLOSURE procedure is not required  for control of the varicose veins you may be a candidate for sclerotherapy by our nurse.  Renee will be happy to give you a call about this option. 

Learn more about Varicose Vein treatments in the attached presentation:

The "Today Show" explores treatments to get rid of Varicose and Spider Veins -

"Today Show" host Natalie Morales had NBC's chief medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman on the program this morning to discuss the best treatments to get rid of varicose and spider veins, and what the differences are between the two.