Vein Vanishing Creams — Worth the Hype?
You’ve probably heard the radio spots – a lady calls in to cancel her vein treatment procedure. When asked why, she excitedly proclaims she’s been using a vein vanishing cream – and it worked!
As vein specialists, this sounds like quite a claim – because it might lead people to believe that the creams “cure” varicose veins and other related vein disease symptoms. And that’s not quite the case.
On certain levels, vein creams containing the ingredient, Diosmin or Diosmin 95®, offer varying stages of relief from the symptoms associated with varicose veins – like feelings of tiredness, heaviness, and achiness. Diosmin 95 (the 95 means it contains 95% diosmin and 5% hesperidin) is an FDA-approved ingredient clinically proven to strengthen veins by prolonging the neuromediator activity in the vein. (Quick biochemical tutorial: Neuromediators are chemicals that are released by the nerve endings that cause the vein to contract and relax.) Breakdowns and below average levels of neuromediators are what lead to the vein becoming too relaxed.
Strong neuromediator presence = Stronger veins
All this is compelling, well-documented information. But, as a vein specialists who are board-certified physicians and interventional/vascular radiologists with years of experience in the field, we are quite leery of “cure-all” and “no medical intervention necessary” claims.
Here’s the deal, once you have varicose veins, the only way to truly “cure” them is through a targeted, minimally invasive vein treatment that pinpoints the source and closes the vein completely. Because once the vein has broken down to a point that it’s unable to pump blood sufficiently back towards the heart – you have a breakdown in the valve that no cream can touch, let alone fix.
That said, we do believe some vein creams that contain Diosmin (at least 90% or higher), hesperidin, horse chestnut, gotu kola, butcher’s broom and other vein-health supportive ingredients can effectively relieve symptoms and even reduce the cosmetic signs (squigglies, discoloration, ropey-ness). And anything that helps vein sufferers feel better, proactively strengthens veins and improves circulation is worth some hype.
