What is the Cost of Laser Treatment for Spider Veins?
There are several ways to treat spider veins. In the past, the only way to treat spider veins was through complex surgical procedures like vein stripping and venous bypass surgery. Thanks to advancements in vein case, we can now treat spider veins with some minimally invasive and simple procedures like laser treatment and sclerotherapy.
The type of spider vein treatment you use depends on the condition of your spider veins. If you’re suffering from superficial spider veins, then the doctor can treat it using a procedure like sclerotherapy, i.e., only treating the surface veins. But if your spider veins are a mere symptom of vein disease, the vein doctor will have to use procedures like endogenous laser ablation to treat the underlying diseased saphenous vein. Without treating the underlying venous insufficiency, your spider veins will simply return later.
You might be wondering what is the cost of laser treatment for spider veins. In this article, we discuss the treatment costs of laser ablation, laser therapy, and sclerotherapy for spider veins.
Endovenous Laser Ablation for Spider Veins
Endovenous laser ablation is one of the best ways to treat spider veins caused by underlying venous insufficiency. During this procedure, the vein doctor will first insert a catheter and a laser fiber into your diseased saphenous vein via an incision made on your skin. Once the catheter is lodged in place, the vein doctor will inject the diseased vein with anesthesia to protect the surrounding tissues. Following this, the vein doctor activates the catheter and laser fiber to generate laser energy and destroy the affected vein completely. This immediately treats the root cause of your spider veins, ensuring that you don’t get spider veins again.
Endovenous laser ablation for spider veins is extremely effective if you have vein disease, but it’s not suitable for surface spider veins. The procedure is minimally invasive, non-surgical, and it can be conducted within an hour in the doctor’s office and without any recovery downtime. A slight drawback here is that you can expect some post-procedural soreness due to the application of tumescent anesthesia.
In terms of cost, a single endovenous laser ablation procedure may cost anything between $2,000 to $7,000, depending on the amount of anesthesia used, the specific condition of your spider veins, and other factors. However, endovenous laser ablation is considered to be medically necessary so your insurance should cover a major part of the cost.
Laser Therapy for Spider Veins
Laser therapy for spider veins is only suitable for superficial spider veins and it is a completely non-invasive procedure. Laser therapy for spider vein is so simple that it can be conducted by anyone, even if they’re not a licensed vein doctor, which is why it’s abundantly found in medical spas.
During the laser therapy procedure, non-UV laser light is applied to your superficial spider veins to gradually destroy the blood vessels. This procedure is extremely ineffective and slow — you may have to go for dozens of sessions over several weeks and months before you see any considerable results.
The cost of a single laser therapy session may range from $300 to $600. But, as mentioned already, you have to return for several sessions so the cost can stack up to several thousand or even tens of thousands of dollars. As such, laser therapy for spider veins is the least effective and least recommended procedure for spider veins.
Sclerotherapy: Best Method to Treat Spider Veins
Sclerotherapy is the best method to treat superficial spider veins. During this procedure, the vein doctor injects a medicine called sclerosant into your superficial veins. This medicine works immediately to seal the walls of your spider veins shut, which causes the accumulated blood to reroute to healthier veins. The spider veins, in turn, harden into scar tissues and eventually disappear over a period of two to three weeks.
Sclerotherapy is an extremely effective procedure with a 97% success rate and it can effectively remove up to 80% of the spider veins in a single go. The procedure is minimally invasive, non-surgical, conducted by a licensed vein doctor, and it leads to zero recovery downtime.
The cost of sclerotherapy for spider veins, on average, is around $700. This is slightly higher than the average cost of a laser therapy session. But you may only have to go for a few sclerotherapy sessions whereas you’ll have to go for several laser therapy sessions. In the long run, sclerotherapy is the more reasonable and more effective alternative.
Schedule your Varicose Veins Treatment
At VIP Medical Group, we have reputable board-certified vein doctors who thoroughly examine your symptoms and run a Doppler Ultrasound test to diagnose the root cause of your spider veins. If your spider veins are caused by vein disease, we use endovenous laser ablation or other effective minimally invasive vein disease treatments. If your spider veins are superficial, we use sclerotherapy to get rid of your spider veins permanently. For more information, please schedule your spider veins and varicose veins treatment today.