Vein stripping is surgery to remove varicose veins in the legs. These veins are removed because they are large and painful, and they affect the way the leg looks.

Varicose veins are swollen, twisted, painful veins that have filled with blood. They usually develop in the legs. Normally, valves in your veins keep your blood flowing so it does not collect in one place. But the valves in varicose veins are either damaged or missing. This causes the veins to remain filled with blood, especially when you are standing.

Vein stripping for this problem is done in a doctor’s office or clinic. Most people receive general anesthesia before this surgery. Will be unconscious and unable to feel pain. Vein stripping takes about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Your surgeon will make two small incisions (cuts) in your leg.

• The incisions will be near the top and bottom of your damaged vein. One will be in your groin. The other will be farther down your leg, either in your calf or ankle.
• Your surgeon will then thread a thin, flexible plastic wire into the vein through your groin. The wire has a small head on it. Your surgeon will guide the wire through your vein toward the other cut farther down your leg.
• As the wire is pulled out through the lower cut, the head of the wire pulls the vein down with it, out through the lower cut.
• Your surgeon may also use hooks to pull out veins during this procedure.

If you have other damaged veins, your surgeon may also make small incisions over them to remove them or tie them off.

The doctor will close the incisions with sutures (stitches). You may also have bandages and compression stockings on your leg.

Vein stripping may be recommended for:

• Varicose veins that cause problems with blood flow (venous insufficiency)
• Leg pain, often described as heavy or tired
• Ulcers or sores that are caused by poor blood flow in the veins
• Blood clots or inflammation in the veins (phlebitis)
• Improving the appearance of the leg
• Lipodermatosclerosis - fatty tissue under that skin that hardens over time from high blood pressure in a vein

Today, more doctors are doing fewer vein stripping surgeries because there are newer ways to treat varicose veins without surgery. These other treatments are less painful and easier to recover from.

See also: Varicose Vein - noninvasive treatment