The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved Ascelera (polidocanol) injections for the treatment of small varicose veins. Asclera has been approved to close spider veins, which are very small veins less than 1 millimeter in diameter, and reticular veins, which are 1-3 millimeters in diameter.
Polidocanol creates fibrosis, (the development of excess connective tissue in an organ or tissue as a reparative process), within the cell lining of blood vessels. This causes them to collapse, and eventually, the vein is then replaced by other types of tissue.