BethRogers

I have gradually developed "prominent" veins in my legs. To clarify, these are not varicose or spider veins, but regular veins that have become larger and bulge out more than normal.

I've gotten a full workup from a vein specialist, and ultrasound ruled out any problems with the deep veins in my leg. Because the full evaluation ruled out other problems, the doctor told me this is mainly a cosmetic issue. I was given prescription-grade compression stockings, but they're not always very practical, especially in hot weather. And they won't really fix the veins, just possibly stop/slow them from getting worse.

I might elect to have these veins treated with sclerotherapy. But I have a few nagging questions that no one has really answered to my satisfaction...

Once the prominent vein(s) are treated or removed, how does this affect blood flow in the remaining veins? Doesn't this just add to the burden of other veins that need to compensate for loss of blood flow in the treated veins? If so, doesn't this increase chances that those veins will also become more prominent eventually? Or are my prominent veins already doing a poor job of helping out with blood flow (in which case removing them wouldn't change the burden on other veins)?

Obviously, there's got to be a limit on how many superficial veins can/should be removed from the leg. Is there a standard guideline for determining this?