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Varicose veins are swollen, twisted, painful veins that have filled with blood.
Description

Varicose veins most often develop in the legs. They often stick out and are blue in color.

• Normally, valves in your veins keep your blood flowing up toward the heart, so the blood does not collect in one place.
• The valves in varicose veins are either damaged or missing. This causes the veins to become filled with blood, especially when you are standing.

The following treatments for varicose veins can be done in a health care provider’s office or clinic. You will receive local anesthesia to numb your leg. You will be awake, but will not feel pain.

Sclerotherapy works best for spider veins. These are small varicose veins.

• Salt water (saline) or a chemical solution is injected into the varicose vein.
• The vein will harden and then disappear.

Laser treatment can be used on the surface of the skin. Small bursts of light make small varicose veins disappear.

Read more at Medline Plus

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