Microcautery Evaluation for the Treatment of Leg Spider Veins

Abstract

Background: Spider leg veins represent a significant cosmetic problem; their prevalence on the lower limbs hasbeen reported as two-thirds of patients age 25 years, between30 and 50 years old. Bad cosmetic appearance is the leadingcomplaint, and reason for requesting consultations. Sclero-therapy and laser therapy are the two main lines of treatment now, with the advantages and disadvantages of each line. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the effect of low-current voltage micrometry using the Ellman Radio Frequencyas an alternative to sclerotherapy and laser in treating spiderleg veins. Patients and Methods: The design was an intervention study carried out on 20 patients who had leg spider veinsselected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria for treatmentusing the Ellman Radio Frequency devise in the outpatient clinic of the Plastic Surgery Department of Assiut University Hospitals from September 1 st , 2020, to March 31 st , 2022. An online survey was carried out to identify the epidemiologicalcommunity aspects of the disease. Results: Participants characteristics found the mean age was 36.1 – SD 9.7 years, and mean BMI 25.4 – SD 4.2kg/m 2 .The online survey findings showed that the disease wasprevalent among 78.1% of the females, where only 27.2% of the participants requested treatment. After one session of Microcautery, the clinical results demonstrated complete disappearance of the spider leg veins in 25%, very good in45%, and good in 30% of the patients. Conclusion and Recommendation: Low voltage micro-cautery has a high comparable success rate in managing caseswith specific selection criteria, in addition to the technique's safety, simplicity, and inexpensive COST. The study recommends planning for future research to compare sclerotherapyas the gold standard and the low-voltage micro cauterizationtechnique