Venous medicine has made tremendous advances in recent decades. At Cross County Cardiology – Mount Sinai, we are skilled in the very latest techniques. One primary reason for all the advances is the development of endovenous (“inside the veins”) treatments. In the past, we mostly treated varicose veins using an invasive surgical procedure called “vein stripping.” This required doctors to make incisions along the full length of the affected veins, and then scrape them away with a scalpel. This procedure was as painful as it sounds. It required hospitalization and long recovery periods, and often left scars.

Today, doctors use minimally invasive procedures such as endovenous laser therapy, or EVLT. These procedures require no deep incisions, and thus no hospitals or general anesthesia. Instead, we can treat you in our outpatient office. It is so painless and fast that some patients can have varicose veins removed on their lunch hour, and then return to work.

What to Expect

With EVLT, we use a tiny laser to close off veins that have become varicose because of vein disease. To perform the procedure, we insert a tiny tube called a catheter into the affected vein. The catheter is fitted with a tiny but powerful laser. We use ultrasound to guide the tube into place.

Your doctor then uses the heat of the laser to permanently close the diseased vein. The vein is then absorbed into surrounding tissue while blood flow is automatically re-routed to healthier veins. This approach addresses any cosmetic concerns you may have had with varicose veins. It also eliminates the pain and discomfort that often accompanies the condition.