VEINWAVE TREATMENT
The first in Northern California to use this revolutionary Veinwave technique to treat telangectatic “spider veins” or “thread veins,” as they are called in the UK. Stephen Hopkins, MD, FACS and Anne Hopkins RN, BSN has trained with Dr. Brian Newman in the UK to offer this revolutionary technique to our patients and to train other healthcare providers in the USA. Please visit Dr. Newman’s site to learn more about the revolutionary technique to treat telangectatic “spider veins.”
Veinwave™ is the first vein therapy procedure found to effectively treat and eliminate facial veins. Veinwave™ is a thermocoagulation treatment using high-frequency energy (microwaves) delivered through an ultra-fine insulated needle to heat the affected blood vessels. The procedure causes the sides of the blood vessel to stick together, preventing the blood flow causing the dilated veins to be visible, and results in the instant disappearance of the veins. The ultra-fine needle allows for precision, accurate treatments even in hard to treat areas, such as the nose and cheeks.
This procedure was developed by leading vascular surgeon, Brian Newman, M.D. in the United Kingdom. Dr. Newman is the inventor of this device has the most extensive personal world wide experience with this technique over nearly a decade in the U.K. For years, U.S. patients have had to travel to the U.K. for Veinwave treatment, however this procedure just received FDA approval in the Winter, of 2009. Because no center in the U.S.A. has extensive experience in this technique, Stephen J. Hopkins, MD, FACS and Anne Hopkins, RN, BSN traveled to Manchester, U.K. be trained directly with Dr. Newman in the UK in order to provide this specialized treatment to our own patients, and to train other healthcare providers this technique here in the U.S.A. As of this publication, our vein center is the first center to offer this technique in Northern California. We now offer training to physicians so that they too can learn this new technique here in the U.S. This technique is truly revolutionary, and is clearly superior to both sclerotherapy and laser treatment for superficial, small, red (less than .3 mm) spider veins - especially those that occur on the face (on the nose, around the nose, and on the cheeks) and on the legs. Sclerotherapy is still the preferred technique for the larger, blue reticular veins. The symptomatic large, varicose veins should be evaluated with duplex scanning and selected patients then are treated with endovenous, radiofrequency ablation - Veinwave treament is not used for these larger varicose veins.
The Veinwave™ treatment does not cause the pain many experience with laser treatments - it is minimally painful however. Veins treated with the technique do not return, however others can develop. The treatment does not require bandages, and patients can resume their everyday activity immediately after treatment. A session typically lasts approximately a half hour.