Ambulatory Phlebectomy
Ambulatory Phlebectomy is essentially a scaled down, minimally invasive, office-based version of the gold standard treatment…vein stripping. After numbing the skin and leg with local anesthetic, tiny incisions are made in the skin at several locations, and a surgical hook is used to physically hook and pull out varicose veins, which are then completely removed from the body. This is a very effective and safe technique for treating large varicose veins that are either very twisted and thus not appropriate for EVLA (the laser fiber cannot negotiate extreme bends in veins), or as a second procedure when EVLA is performed to treat the root cause diseased deeper veins but large varicose veins remain downstream. Phlebectomy can be used as a stand-alone procedure or as a procedure following EVLA or sclerotherapy. The same compression stockings and close follow-up regime are used as after the other procedures. At our NYC Laser Vein Care office, we routinely use our state of the art Transillumination devices shown above (Venoscope & Veinlite) to highlight varicose veins and mark them on the skin surface prior to the procedure, since the surface veins become invisible once the anesthetic fluid is injected.
