Most people who have varicose veins would like to get rid of them. There may now be a way to do it without surgery.

The procedure, called venus closure, has been around for a couple of years, but researchers have just completed a study comparing it to surgical vein stripping.

WTAE medical editor Marilyn Brooks has more details in the following Healthcast report, which first aired Aug. 7, 2003, on Action News at 5 p.m.

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Hot and muggy weather usually means shorts and swimsuits, unless you're among the millions who wouldn't show your legs in public for love or money.

Valerie Payton: "One day at the beach, a little boy came running up to me and looked at my legs and said, 'What happened to you?'"

Payton is a dance instructor, but she never fully exposed her legs because she thought they were too ugly.

Payton: "Having varicose veins at the young age that I had them is like being an old lady before your time."

Dr. Fedor Lurie: "If the varicose veins are associated with pain and swelling, the disease -- left untreated -- can progress to skin changes and, in worse case, ulcers."

The most common contributors to varicose veins are family history, obesity and occupations that require standing for long periods of time.

There is no shortage of treatments for varicose veins. Saline or salt injections have been tried for spider veins. Lasers have also been used.

But when varicose veins become large, swollen and painful, the standard treatment has been to strip them surgically. The surgery is not exactly comfortable.

Now, there is an alternative called venus closure. A thin tube is inserted into the offending vein. Tiny prongs are extended and radiofrequency energy waves do the rest.

Lurie: "Eighty percent of closure patients return to normal physical activity on the first day after the procedure. Only 46 percent of the patients after vein stripping did that."

Payton went mountain climbing the day after her procedure.

Payton: "I had some discomfort from leaping right into a difficult, steep mountain hike, but not enouigh to complain about."

The study also showed that the closure procedure caused less post-operative pain and bruising.

This was a multi-center study, but not all vascular surgeons are using closure. Depending on the state of their varicosities, all patients may not be able to benefit from it.