Sclerotherapy Sclerotherapy is provided to patients who seek to reduce the appearance of unwanted spider veins, larger blue reticular veins and raised varicose veins. The type and strength of the sclerosing agent/solution will vary upon the vessel type and is injected into the vein with a very fine needle. This solution irritates the blood vessel lining, causing it to swell and stick together. The vein will collapse and shrink down, preventing blood from entering the vein. Over the next few weeks, the vessel will fade until it is nearly or completely invisible. Some areas may require additional treatments spaced 6 to 8 weeks apart. You should experience little to no discomfort during the sclerotherapy procedure. You can generally return to your everyday activities right away, although you should avoid strenuous activity for at least 24 hours. If you've had sclerotherapy performed on your legs, you will have tensor bandages applied that are to be worn for 48 hours and we recommend support hose to help achieve more effective results. You may experience redness, swelling, bruising at the injection site. Bruising should subside within a few weeks or months. In just a short while, you should be delighted with the results. Different members of our team will inject depending upon the size of the vessel. The smaller spider veins are injected by our nurse Kelly, the medium vessels and some varicosities are injected by Dr. Wismer, and the larger varicosities not requiring surgical intervention are often referred out. Sometimes the vessels are small and difficult to close with sclerotherapy. At this time, we may recommend the use of our light or laser technology such as Intense Pulse Light.