Mercy Vascular Surgeon, Dr. Alain Tanbe, Discusses VenaSeal for Treating Varicose Veins

More than 18 million people in the United States, mostly women, deal with varicose veins. For some, it's mild or a cosmetic concern. For others, it brings on swelling and discomfort.

For the first time in a long time, Sandra Jones was on her feet without discomfort.

"My legs were tight. They would just hurt," Jones said.

After seeing vascular surgeon Dr. Alain Tanbe of The Vascular Center at Mercy, she learned her veins were causing the swelling and discomfort.

"I had leaking veins, just like the faucet would leak, he would explain," Jones said.

"They are annoying. They're not dangerous, but they affect your lifestyle," Dr. Tanbe said.

According to Dr. Tanbe, treating varicose veins is much easier thanks to technology that keeps evolving. It's called VenaSeal.

It takes just one needle stick to numb the patient.

"This is a new generation of closing the vein, and instead of doing the laser, which can be burning, sometimes causing discomfort, this is literally injecting glue inside the vein and closing it by shifting the blood into the main vein that you have," Dr. Tanbe said.

Jones had both procedures done, the old way and the new way. In April, she had the laser treatment done on her left leg.

"I had many needles up my leg. The recovery period for that was that was a longer period because it was so tender," Jones said.

In August, Dr. Tanbe treated her right leg with VenaSeal.

"The whole procedure was a half hour, and when he was finished, I said, 'Already?'" Jones said.

Jones said she prefers VenaSeal but is just glad she did something. She feels great.

To view Mercy vascular surgeon Dr. Alain Tanbe’s interview regarding varicose veins and VenaSeal, click here.