Tag: Medication

Can You Get Spider Vein Treatment

Can you get spider vein treatment? That is one question that only your doctor can answer after conducting a thorough physical examination and reviewing your medical history.

The patients medical history is important because spider vein could be caused by age, heredity, medication or pregnancy. If you think that only females get it, men also do but it is rare for men to undergo treatment so this can be removed.

If you are considering spider vein treatment, you have to be physically fit because people who have circulatory problems, diabetes, heart condition or a blood born disease like hepatitis or AIDS cant undergo this procedure.

One issue that prevents some from undergoing spider vein treatment is the cost. It may be as low as $150 per leg but this could be much higher depending on how many veins have to be treated, how large are the veins, the experience of the doctor and where this will be done.

If you cant afford it, you may want to check if your insurance will be able to cover it. The bad news is that it is rarely covered by your provider because spider veins are considered to be a cosmetic problem, nothing else. If you are lucky, you will be required to present photographs or laboratory studies before your request is approved.

The procedure used by most doctors today is called sclerotherapy. Here, the doctor will inject needles into the affected veins. Studies have shown that the patients condition will improve by 50 to 90 percent but this takes months. The end result is that the spider veins will disappear but this does not prevent new ones from appearing later on.

Patients who choose to undergo sclerotherapy will be on an operating table for about 15 to 45 minutes. Again, this depends on how many veins need to be treated. Anesthesia is not used all throughout and you are awake the whole time. Since the needles are so thin, the only thing you will feel is a prick.

Once you have been injected with the fluid, the area will be bandaged and you will have to wear a prescribed tight fitting hose for 72 hours.

During this time, your legs will look like someone beat you up. To remove the sclerosing solution that was injected, your doctor will advise you to walk. Until the next session which is due in the following month, you should not carry heavy items, exercise, sit, stand or squat for a long period of time.

If money is not an issue and there is nothing in your medical history that is preventing you from undergoing sclerotherapy, the only thing you have to do now is look for a doctor.

Just be sure that the specialist is a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). These people are members of a bigger organization namely the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS) and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

But can spider veins be prevented? Yes it can as long as you wear a support hose regularly as this helps prevent unwanted blood vessels from developing. You should also exercise regularly and maintain your weight. Lastly, you must avoid exposing yourself too much from the sun as its harmful rays can also do damage.

But some people still experience spider veins despite the measures mentioned and if you want to get rid of it, you have no choice but to undergo spider vein treatment.

The Two Types of Spider Vein Treatment

Spider veins are not nice to look at regardless of where they may be in the body. It can happen on the face but this usually appears on the legs. Fortunately, this can be remedied and people have to choose from two types of spider vein treatment.

The first is called sclerotherapy also known as spider vein injection. Here, the doctor will inject a scleroic agent into you the affected vein which is designed to make them contract and collapse.

This is done when the patient has medium to large spider veins. It is a painless procedure which is why anesthesia is not given. It is over within 15 to 45 minutes and you will have to go back for two or six more sessions to see its full effect.

Sclerotherapy was first used in Europe and then now being used by doctors in the US. This should only be done by a certified doctor to avoid complications.

The second type of spider vein treatment is laser. Here, the doctor will aim the beam over the spider veins so this will coagulate and shrink. This is very effective when the patient has small and medium sized spider veins.

Patients who decide to use laser surgery should know that you will feel a little pain when the procedure is being performed. Despite that, you dont need to be given any local anesthetic, pain medication or sedative.

In both types, you should expect the spider veins in the skin to get darker and become more visible. Within 2 weeks to a month and a half, this should already start to fade so it is slowly improving.

Some patients who have small, medium and large spider veins have to use combination therapy which consist of sclerotherapy and laser which will greatly reduce the cost for laser treatment.

The cost of sclerotherapy and laser treatment are not that far apart. A session of sclerotherapy may cost between $100 and $400 per session while laser treatment could cost $300-450 per session. But you have to remember that this could go higher depending on the number of veins that have to be treated, the doctor who is performing the procedure and where you are having this done. Doctors who have their own clinic can do it right there instead of having this done in the hospital.

The two types of spider vein treatment have similarities and differences. One cannot be substituted with the other because one type is designed to help patients who have small to medium spider veins while the other is to help treat those who have medium to large spider veins.

Which one will be performed on you will depend on the assessment of your doctor. To help with the cost of this procedure, you should see if your insurance provider will be able to cover it. You should know right now that many insurance companies do not shoulder this expense because their argument is that this is a cosmetic procedure.

While this is true, you can with the help of your doctor argue that you need one of the two types of spider vein treatment for medical reasons. Just remember that this should be backed up by pictures and documents so there is a big chance that your request for this procedure is approved.

Is Hair Transplant Painful?

Many people who think about having hair transplant surgery wonder if the procedure is painful. Often people have sensitive scalps and the thought of someone making cuts there seems hard to think about for these people. There is disagreement as to whether hair transplant surgery is painful, though.

Some say that hair transplant surgery is similar to a visit to the dentist. This does not seem like a description of something that is pain-free. It certainly does not seem like a relaxing experience. Yet some feel that there is that degree of pain involved.

The injections of the local anesthetic into the scalp before hair transplant procedures are definitely painful to some degree. Anyone who has had a tooth pulled knows that, if the tooth is deadened properly, it is not the tooth-pulling that hurts. It is the needle going in with medication to numb the tooth that is the real agony.

Of course, to follow the dental analogy, after the numbing wears off there is plenty of pain where the tooth was before. With hair transplant surgery, there is pain after the surgery as well. Swelling is normal after hair transplant surgery and can even keep you away from work. Your skull may feel very unusual for weeks.

However, the pain of hair transplant cannot actually be compared to a tooth extraction. Hair transplant pain is decidedly less sharp and some do not even feel it as pain at all. Many people simply feel it as an uncomfortable feeling. If they do feel any pain, it is of a degree that can be taken care of with a few doses of Tylenol.

On the other hand, some people who have had hair transplant procedures done do not feel that there is any pain involved at all. They tolerate the injections of the local anesthetic well. They are not bothered at all by the procedure. In fact they often watch television or read magazines, being awake and alert the whole time.

Hair transplant surgery is surely less painful than it was in earlier times when larger sections of scalp were excised. This involved more cutting to take out the donor hair and more cutting to insert the donor hair into the recipient site.

Hair transplant surgery was a very painful procedure in the past. Not all doctors today have given up on older methods. This is one reason why you should ask a lot of questions when you look for a hair transplant surgeon.

Up-to-date techniques for hair transplant use only the follicular unit and not a large amount of surrounding tissue for the donor grafts. This cuts down considerably on the amount of pain experienced. The procedure is minimally invasive now, so that no more of the scalp is disturbed than is necessary.

Finally, having a hair transplant with an experienced and skilled surgeon is an important key to having a less painful surgery. A doctor who knows the best way to do the procedure will cause you less pain an produce a better result for you into the bargain.

Skin And Thyroid-Hormones Released Make You Healthier

When people think about getting healthier skin they do not often think of their thyroid gland. Most people do not realize the connection their thyroid has with their skin and as such will often neglect it. Your thyroid is in charge of a lot of things, most people know it for controlling your metabolism. What most people do not know is that your Skin and Thyroid are linked.

The hormones released by the thyroid gland does more than just regulate your metabolism, they also work to make your skin healthier. A lot of people suffering from hypothyroidism will notice that their skin suffers as well. They will feel dry and coarse and in colder temperatures they will seem itchy and may even notice cracks in their hands and fingers.

These problems are caused because your thyroid gland is not getting enough iodine. Iodine is a chemical that can be found in a variety of sources, such as the soil (and thus plants) and seawater (thus seafood). However in today’s society a lot of natural iodine is stripped from our food, which causes people to get less than they need and leads to hypothyroidism.

If you are concerned about your Skin and Thyroid then you should look into figuring out if hypothyroidism is the cause. There are many symptoms associated with hypothyroidism ranging from fatigue, constipation, weight gain, depression, and anxiety. Your skin looking worse is also a symptom.

If you notice that not only your skin is suffering but you also possess some of the other symptoms, than you may have found the cause. It is important you go and see your doctor to confirm whether or not hypothyroidism is to blame. A simple blood test is all it takes to determine that.

If hypothyroidism is the cause all you will have to worry about is making sure yo get enough iodine. Your doctor will likely prescribe some medication for you to take and may even advise you adjust your diet. That should be all it takes to get your thyroid in working order again.

Once you get your thyroid back under control you can expect to see stark improvement in the way your skin looks and feels. It should become smoother and more natural looking as it starts to receive the hormones it was sorely lacking.

While your thyroid may be to blame for your skin problems, it is not the only thing out there that can rob you of your beauty. There is a variety of other conditions and reasons for why your skin has the problems it does, and so if getting your thyroid back in top shape does not improve your skin, there may be other factors involved.

If that is the case you should look into other ways to get your skin looking it’s best and try to find the cause behind it. Your Skin and Thyroid are both important and critically linked, so even if your skin does not clear up at least you found out your thyroid was out of whack and fixed it.