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What really happens - 3

The diagram on the left shows what happens at the point where the untreated bit of vein meets the bit of vein that has been treated by sclerotherapy.

The healthy normal cells grow into the scarred areas and slowly, usually over 2 - 3 years, the vein opens up again.

In the UK Sclerotherapy was very popular in the late 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's. However, when it became clear that many of the large veins open up again after a couple of years, it fell out of favour

There are some new advances in Sclerotherapy including the injection of Sclerotherapy solution under Ultrasound control, and the making of Sclerotherapy into a Foam.

The results in treating smaller veins using these methods are promising, but larger veins still have a reasonably high chance of opening up again in the future.

There are other areas that need to be addressed, such as brown staining of the skin in some patients, deep vein thrombosis (from the Sclerotherapy treatment getting into the deep veins) and what happens to the sclerotherapy solution if it goes to the lungs or through a hole in the heart to the arteries.

These questions are currently being studied.