Chronic venous insufficiency.
When the veins in your legs can no longer push blood back toward the heart efficiently, the consequences extend far beyond visible varicose veins — swelling, skin damage, and non-healing wounds.
What CVI is — and why it matters
Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) develops when the valves inside your leg veins stop closing properly. Blood that should travel upward to the heart instead leaks backward and pools in the lower legs.
Over time, that constant backpressure damages the tiniest blood vessels in the skin — leading to swelling, color changes, hardening of the tissue, and eventually open wounds at the ankle.
CVI is one of the most under-treated vascular conditions in America. It's often dismissed as "just swelling" or "getting older," but it's a progressive mechanical problem with effective, minimally invasive treatments available right here in Pompano Beach.
Signs of chronic venous insufficiency
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CVI doesn't stay still.
What starts as ankle swelling becomes skin discoloration, then hardening of the skin, then ulceration. Each stage is harder to reverse than the last. Once a venous ulcer opens, it can take months to close — and it will keep coming back unless the underlying vein problem is treated.
Dr. Anton's background as an interventional nephrologist means he understands fluid balance, swelling, and skin complications in a way that pure vein specialists often don't. That matters when patients have co-existing kidney, heart, or lymphatic conditions contributing to leg symptoms.
Evaluation and treatment
Diagnosis begins with a duplex ultrasound — a painless scan that maps which veins are leaking and how badly. Treatment is tailored to the severity: compression therapy for early stages, and minimally invasive venous ablation or angioplasty when valves need to be closed off so blood reroutes through healthy veins.
Procedures are outpatient, done in our Pompano Beach office under local anesthesia, and most patients walk out the same day and resume normal activity. Skin changes and swelling typically improve over weeks; ulcers begin closing once the venous pressure is relieved.
Frequently asked questions
What is chronic venous insufficiency (CVI)?
CVI develops when the valves in your leg veins stop closing properly, so blood that should travel up to the heart leaks backward and pools in the lower legs. Over time that backpressure damages the skin and tissue.
Is CVI just normal aging or "just swelling"?
It's often dismissed that way, but CVI is a progressive mechanical problem — not a normal part of aging — and it has effective, minimally invasive treatments.
What happens if CVI is left untreated?
It doesn't stay still. Ankle swelling can progress to skin discoloration, then hardening of the skin, then open ulcers — and each stage is harder to reverse than the last.
How is CVI diagnosed and treated?
Diagnosis begins with a painless duplex ultrasound that maps which veins are leaking. Treatment is tailored to severity, from compression therapy to minimally invasive venous ablation or angioplasty, performed in-office under local anesthesia.
Will treatment help my swelling and skin changes?
Most patients walk out the same day, and skin changes and swelling typically improve over weeks once the venous pressure is relieved.
answers?