What substances are injected during sclerotherapy? varicose veins on my feet have me looking into sclerotherapy. i have a lot of allergies, including several antibiotics and a lot of skin care products. does anyone ever experience a reaction from the prod

The : The most common agents used in the us are sodium tetradecyl sulfate and polidochanol. Both are classified as detergents, which means that their molecular structure consist of chains that bond to water at one end and to oil at the other. They work by damaging the cells that line the veins, which in turn causes the walls to scar together and close the vein. Another agent is called hypertonic saline, which is basically salt water. Like the other agents (though by a different chemical process, Hypertonic Saline damages the cells that line the vein and causes the vein to scar closed. Of these three agents, polidochanol seems to have the best safety profile, but it's newer in the us and may be the most expensive. Hypertonic saline is the cheapest and most readily available, but it causes some crampy pain when injected and does not work well in larger veins.

Asclera and: Sotradecol are the only ones that are fda approved. Both are in the detergent class. Both are safe but minor local reactions can happen. Allergies although rare could technically happen.

Sclerosant allergies: See dr. Andrews" answer. It is excellent. Sotradecol and polidocanol don't cross react with any antibiotics so there really isn't any increased risk in having sc;lerotherapy if you are allergic to antibibiotics. Generally any kind of kind to sclerotherapy is rare. Hypertonic saline also causes no allergic reactions but injecting it is often painful and doesn't work very well. To be cont.

Multiple agents.: There are many types of sclerosing solutions but the most common used currently are called detergents because they can be foamed like a soap. The foam is thicker and works more efficiently. The common solutions that foam are tetra decal sulfate (tetradecyl) and polidocanol (asclera). Other agents are Hypertonic Saline and glycerine. Polidocanol and glycerine have minimum side effects.