Vein Specialists of Monterey & Salinas

07/19/2023

A patient brought in tamales! Except they are elote instead of masa. So delicious. We have the best patients.
Una paciente trajo tamales! Excepto con elote en lugar de masa. ¡Tan delicioso! ¡Tenemos los mejores pacientes!

10/19/2022

Familia de nuestra empleada.

Upcoming HOW dinner honoring Lisbeth Tamayo on November 8th.

https://mysosevent.com/events/dinner-honoring-lisbeth-tamayo

07/13/2022

El doctor Larssen se especializa en venas varicosas dolorosas en Monterey y Salinas. Aceptamos la mayoría de las asegurances. Llámenos hoy en nuestra clínica en Salinas a 831-646-8346

04/10/2020

Today, Friday, until 2 pm, and again from 6-7 pm, 5,000 free masks are being distributed at the Carmel Middle School. All you do is drive up along the curb, unroll your passenger side window, and a volunteer tosses a baggy with 10 masks into your car.

The distribution of these masks is made possible by the Chinese parents at Stevenson School's Anti Covid-19 Team. Thanks so much to them for their generosity.

Attached is a flyer with other days and times masks will be distributed in the County.

08/11/2019

Finally someone has created a fantastic computer simulation of vein disease!

Medical Animation Movie on Venous Disorders. Watch the new SIGVARIS movie to learn more about the beneficial effects of wearing SIGVARIS compression stocking...

04/10/2019

'Are you done? Seriously? Seriously? Compared to my vein stripping 20 years ago...wow..why did I wait so long?' This is what was heard in our procedure room on Monday. On Tuesday our patient came back for her second procedure and she was so casual about it she brought her coffee with her. 😄

01/28/2019

Varicose veins is a progressive disease, meaning it gets slowly worse over time. The good news is that you don't have to get treated in an emergency fashion. It's not like your appendix is going to rupture. Don't let anyone pressure you into getting treated when you are not ready. We tell our patients they have time to plan and save for their treatment if they need. Plan for a year when you have good health insurance coverage. Or if you have a high deductible plan, just plan a year to knock out all of those other medical tests and treatments that you have been postponing in order to maximize meeting your deductible. Start at the beginning of the year to give yourself time to get all your medical appointments accomplished during that deductible period. If you are waiting a while, wear thigh high compression stockings strength 20-30 to support your legs and minimize your symptoms.

Is it possible to wait too long? It is possible to wait too long to get your veins treated. Once you have multiple other medical issues going on, are on lots of different medications and have reduced mobility, it's sometimes too risky to treat your veins. Varicose veins increase in size and number over time, and these changes can increase the risks of treatment. You don't want to suffer with vein problems and reduced quality of life for decades!

Varicose vein symptoms develop slowly over time, typically years. So basically this is a disease that allows you to control the timing of when you address it, you just have to make a plan! We are here to help.

01/28/2019

Ultrasounds Explained
There seems to be a lot of confusion on types of ultrasounds. People who have suspected a blood clot and visited the Emergency Department often say, ‘I already got an ultrasound!’ So really there are two different types of ultrasounds for veins, each which looks for a different vein disease.
If you go to the Emergency Department because you think you might have a blood clot, the ED is going to perform an ultrasound to rule out Deep Vein Thrombosis. They are looking to see if there is a blood clot or not.
The second kind of ultrasound is for patients who have varicose veins. Varicose veins are due to venous blood flowing the wrong way back down your leg. The flow problem causing varicose veins, however, is often more extensive than we can see just looking at your leg. During a venous insufficiency ultrasound, the ultrasonographer maps the flow in all the major veins in patient’s leg, marking where the blood is flowing in the wrong direction (reflux), noting how the veins connect with this specific patient, where the problem starts and stops, and noting vein diameters and presence or absence of reflux. We use this mapping as a road map to treat the patient, and we also use it to get approval from insurance. If the measurements don’t meet insurance criteria, then insurance does not consider treatment ‘medically necessary’. This venous insufficiency study takes about an hour to perform and is a different study looking for a different disease than the Deep Vein Thrombosis study. Generally, if a patient has had a venous insufficiency study in the past but it has been over 12 months, then insurance will not accept the findings and will make the patient get a new study. This isn’t a bad idea, since varicose veins are a progressive disease and things often worsen over time. The picture may look worse a year or two later without treatment.

01/08/2019

There seems to be a lot of confusion on types of ultrasounds. People who have suspected a blood clot and visited the Emergency Department often say, ‘I already got an ultrasound!’. So really there are two different types of ultrasounds for veins, each which looks for a different vein disease.

If you go to the Emergency Department because you think you might have a blood clot, the ED is going to perform an ultrasound to rule out Deep Vein Thrombosis. They are looking to see if there is a blood clot or not.

The second kind of ultrasound is for patients who have varicose veins. Varicose veins are due to venous blood flowing the wrong way back down your leg. The flow problem causing varicose veins, however, is often more extensive than we can see just looking at your leg. During a venous insufficiency ultrasound, the ultrasonographer maps the flow in all the major veins in patient’s leg, marking where the blood is flowing in the wrong direction (reflux), noting how the veins connect with this specific patient, where the problem starts and stops, and noting vein diameters and presence or absence of reflux. We use this mapping as a road map to treat the patient, and we also use it to get approval from insurance. If the measurements don’t meet insurance criteria, then insurance does not consider treatment ‘medically necessary’. This venous insufficiency study takes about an hour to perform and is a different study looking for a different disease than the Deep Vein Thrombosis study.

Generally, if a patient has had a venous insufficiency study in the past but it has been over 12 months, then insurance will not accept the findings and will make the patient get a new study. This isn’t a bad idea, since varicose veins are a progressive disease and things often worsen over time. The picture may look worse a year or two later without treatment.

11/04/2018

Picking a vein specialist off the internet or radio is tough. The best way to know if a specialist has an excellent track record? Ask your primary care physician which medical specialist they would go to.