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Most people probably know of someone who has suffered pain connected to varicose veins, and have heard horror stories about the unpleasant treatments -- but FOX 9 News reporter Rob Olson, who was diagnosed a few years ago, recently found that there have been many advances in treating the condition.

Olson shared his experience treating the genetic condition, which is caused by faulty valves inside leg veins that don't close completely. Over years, pooling blood stretches the veins like balloons until bumps are visible on a person's legs. Progressively, the legs then become achy, restless and tired.

"You're getting rid of a vein that was working against you from the beginning," Dr. George Edmonson, of the Vein Center of St. Paul Radiology, said of the treatment. "You had a lot of back pressure -- veinous back pressure -- in your legs that makes them swell. They are physically heavier because they're holding a reservoir of extra blood."

Though Olson's diagnosis came years ago, he put off what he thought would be an intimidating and unpleasant treatment. Now, he wishes he hadn't waited so long.

In summer, the pain got worse and made it difficult to run. A friend told him about the newer treatments -- which involve small pokes and numbing agents -- and the instant relief it had brought.

Using a guide wire and a catheter guided by ultrasound, the doctor injected saline and Lidocaine around the vein to numb it and flatten it. Then, using either a laser or radio frequency, they heat the vein from the inside, which collapses it as they pull the catheter back out. The whole process takes about a half an hour.

The treatment is less than a decade old, and it is far simpler than the old process of stripping veins.