Medical Superglue is a modern non-surgical treatment that uses a medical adhesive to treat varicose veins. The glue is made from cyanoacrylate and is a safe, medical grade adhesive.  The active component of the cyanoacrylate adhesive almost instantaneously closes the abnormal veins which can encourage a faster healing process that is sometimes associated with other treatments.

Medical adhesive has been used safely for many years for applications such as wound closure.

The medical glue procedure involves the placement of a very small amount of medical glue into the vein through a small catheter. The affected vein closes quickly and blood is then re-routed to the other healthy veins in the leg.  One of the big patient benefits to the medical adhesive procedure is that it does not require large amounts of anaesthesia and there is no risk of skin burns, staining or nerve damage as with some of the other heat based procedures.

Clinical Trial Experience

Three clinical studies demonstrate results that support the clinical effectiveness of medical adhesive for treatment of varicose veins.  (1,2,3)

The treated superficial veins close immediately and stay closed.  Blood flows through nearby healthy veins and symptoms approve.  In the US Study;

  • at 3 months, VenaSeal and a 99% closure rate
  • 96.8% of veins remained closed at 12 months after treatment with VenaSeal.
  • the most common side effect was phlebitis (inflammation of the vein).  This is a common side effect in all vein treatments and typically occurs within the first 30 days of the procedure.
(1) Morris N. et al, Randomized trial comparing cyanoacrylate embolisation and radiofrequency ablation for incompetent great saphenous veins (VeClose). Journal of Vascular Surgery. 2015.
(2) Proebstle TM et al, The European multicenter cohort study on cyanoacrylate embolization of refluxing great saphenous veins. Journal of Vascular Surgery. 2014.
(3) Amleida Jl et al, Two year follow up of first human use of cyanoacrylate adhesive for treatment of saphenous vein incompetence. Phlebology: published online 30 March 2014.

Benefits of Medical Glue treatment for Veins

  • Minimally invasive
  • Walk in walk out
  • Less risk of staining, burns and nerve damage than heat based procedures
  • Excellent success rate
  • No need for large quantities of anaesthetic