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The American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery – AACS conducted a study on sclerotherapy and varicose veins. It shows that it is the number 2 most performed cosmetic surgery procedure done and this is mainly due to men doing the treatment. Over the past five years, sclerotherapy has seen an increase of 3%  in males over the past five years. This is totally different compared to the 3.5% increase in females since 2002.

On the other side, there has been a reduction in male hair transplant. The reduction is likely due to the price of the procedure. Over the past five years, there has been a drastic increase in the price of hair transplants, while sclerotherapy has decreased.

Many cosmetic surgeons have seen an increasing amount of men wanted to have the procedure done. This could mainly be attributed to the fact that there are fewer stigmas associated with men having this treatment done.

The top three most performed cosmetic surgical procedures in 2007 were liposuction, sclerotherapy and blepharoplasty. The most popular non-surgical cosmetic procedure was Botox innjections, microdermabrasion and chemical peels.

This data is a result of a survey of AACS members based in the United States members and it was conducted in 2007.

The procedure in using sclerotherapy to treat snoring has increased over the years. There is a higher relapse rate compared to other surgery therapies for snoring. The benefit of using sclerotherapy is that it does not cost thousands of dollars, it is not painful and does not require days of bed rest. The injection of sclerotherapy to stop snoring (snoreplasty) is a 15-minute procedure that is usually done under topical anesthesia. This will result in minimal pain and little to no bed rest.

Injection snoreplasty was developed where a sclerotherapy agent, sodium tetradecyl sulfate (Sotradecol), is injected into the submucosal layer of the soft palate to induce scarring and palatal stiffening.  Once this is done, the result is the reduction of elimination of snoring.

A research study was conducted that involved 27 subjects. Of the 27, 25 reported a significant reduction in their snoring and also now significant complications.

It was further reported that 4 of 22 patients that had success from the procedure,  reported a relapse of snoring after a follow-up period of 19 months.

Three of the four subjects underwent repeat injections and they have shown an excellent reduction in snoring.

It should be noted that the success associated with this snoring relief procedure may diminish over time. The reason for this is that the scarred palatal tissue undergoes softening and remodeling.

Injection snoreplasty has generated enormous interest and some controversy among otolaryngologists.

Patients are satisfied with the procedure as it is very simple, cheap and lacks side effects.

Sclerotherapy is a procedure that is used to treat varicose veins on the legs. This treatment is also safe to be used on a wide variety of veins that can be found on the chest, face and hands.

This development is based on the safer and newer techniques of sclerotherapy that have been developed to have effective results on veins on the face, chest and hands. The procedure used on these body parts make use of a less concentrated solution, that is able to work faster, have fewer side effects and less risk.

A research study was conducted that examined the veins in 14 patients with a total of 20 facial sites and treated with sclerotherapy.  A detergent sclerosant was used in 4 of the 20 facial sites and a hypersomolar sclerosant used in the other 16. Patients showed a mean improvement of 70 percent with 11 of 20 sites showing a 90 percent to 100 percent improvement.

Seven of the patients in the study had their hands treated with the detergent sclerosant and this was followed up in a period of 1 – 6 years. These patients had a mean improvement  of 97.8%.

Veins that were found on the chest of two patients were treated and after a follow-up of two years, the patients who were treated with the detergent sclerosant had a more than 50 % improvement. The patients who had the hyperosmolar sclerosant used showed 96% percent improvement.