What anesthesia is needed during sclerotherapy?

Local: Just something to numb the skin.

Sclerotherapy: This is for the treatment of small varicose veins. This is usually done in an office setting and requires only local anesthetic.

Shouldn't need any..: Sclerotherapy of varicose and spider veins involves using very small needles to inject the veins and is generally very well-tolerated and just slightly uncomfortable. Consequently, since it is so well-tolerated, no anesthetic is used. Look for a vein specialist/phlebologist who routinely performs sclerotherapy and you shouldn't feel like you need any anesthetic!

Depends on needles: If very small needles are used for treating spider veins, generally no anesthetic is used at all. Sometimes slightly larger needles are used for treating larger veins. In that case, a little bit of local anesthetic might be used at the puncture site.

See below: Depending on location and size this procedure can either be done under sedation or a full general anesthetic.

Mostly not needed: When spider veins are injected with a 30 ga small needle. Patient who are intolerant to even such small needles and have large surfaces of skin to be treated should use Lidoderm patches 5% to be applied 2 hours before treatment. If dr, is using saline injections one should expect quite a painful experience.

None: No anesthesia is needed for sclerotherapy. It is done in the doctors office while you are awake. Since the needles are very small there is very little discomfort associated with the injection (similar pain to an ant bite). The discomfort is typically less than an immunization injection. The medication itself does not tend to "burn" or cause pain as it is injected, you just feel the needle poke