Varicose veins are often treated for aesthetic reasons. However, treatment is also highly advisable for medical reasons because the complications may be severe and can be avoided in most cases if the condition is treated in time.

Compression therapy is the basic treatment for diseases of the veins. The underlying principle of this type of treatment is the reduction of the width of the vein by applying external pressure.
This speeds up the flow of blood through the vein and reduces swelling in the leg.

However, once a vein becomes distended, it can never contract back to its original size, and so compression therapy needs to be applied for the rest of the patient's life. Alternatively, the vein can be disconnected. These surgical measures seek to eliminate venous diseases as far as possible.
The advantage of this approach is that it removes the cause of the disease, rather than merely treating the symptoms. 

Vein stripping is the standard surgical treatment for removing large varicose veins. This procedure extracts the diseased saphenous vein from the leg in its entirety. This surgical procedure is usually performed under general anesthesia and recovery takes approximately three weeks. 

Alternative surgical treatments have been available for a number of years in the form of endoluminal laser or radiofrequency therapy and foam sclerotherapy.

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