Polidocanol: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Polidocanol is a sclerosing agent sold in the U.S. under one brand, for varicose veins. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Sclerosing Agent
- Treats
- Varicose Veins
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- Asclera
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
How polidocanol is dosed
From the FDA label for Asclera (application NDA021201). Other polidocanol products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
For intravenous use only. Parenteral drug products should be inspected visually for particulate matter and discoloration prior to administration, whenever solution and container permit. Do not use if particulate matter is seen or if the contents of the vial are discolored or if the vial is damaged in any way. For spider veins (varicose veins ≤1 mm in diameter), use Asclera 0.5%. For reticular veins (varicose veins 1 to 3 mm in diameter), use Asclera 1%. Use 0.1 to 0.3 mL per injection and no more than 10 mL per session. Use a syringe (glass or plastic) with a fine needle (typically, 26- or 30-gauge). Insert the needle tangentially into the vein and inject the solution slowly while the needle is still in the vein. Apply only gentle pressure during injection to prevent vein rupture. After the needle has been removed and the injection site has been covered, apply compression in the form of a stocking or bandage. After the treatment session, encourage the patient to walk for 15 to 20 minutes. Keep the patient under observation to detect any anaphylactic or allergic reaction [see Warnings and Precautions (5.3) ] . Maintain compression for 2 to 3 days after treatment of spider veins and for 5 to 7 days for reticular veins. For extensive varicosities, longer compression treatment with compression bandages or a gradient compression stocking of a higher compression class is…
Polidocanol side effects
The most common adverse reactions occurring at least 3% more frequently than on placebo are mild local reactions at the site of injection. ( 6 ) To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Methapharm at 1-866-701-4636 or [email protected] or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch . 6.1 Clinical Study Experience Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical trials of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice. In 5 controlled randomized clinical trials, Asclera has been administered to 401 patients with small or very small varicose veins (reticular and spider veins) and compared with another sclerosing agent and with placebo. Patients were 18 to 70 years old. The patient population was predominately female and consisted of Caucasian and Asian patients. Table 1 shows adverse events more common with Asclera or sodium tetradecyl sulfate (STS) 1% than with placebo by at least 3% in the placebo-controlled EASI study [see Clinical Studies (14) ] . All of these were injection site reactions and most were mild. Table 1: Adverse Reactions in EASI-study ASCLERA (180 patients) STS 1% (105 patients) Placebo (53 patients) Injection site haematoma 42% 65% 19% Injection site irritation 41% 73% 30% Injection site…
Who shouldn’t take polidocanol
Asclera is contraindicated for patients with known allergy to polidocanol and patients with acute thromboembolic diseases. Known allergies to polidocanol. ( 4 ) Patients with acute thromboembolic diseases. ( 4 )
Polidocanol drug interactions
No drug-drug interactions have been studied with Asclera.
Every polidocanol product we track (1)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
Only one: Asclera.
Polidocanol recalls
From the FDA Enforcement database. A recall covers specific lots — not the drug as a whole.
What people report to the FDA about polidocanol
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 166 reports naming polidocanol, and the FDA flagged 90% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- fatigue16 reports
- pruritus14 reports
- diarrhoea13 reports
- nausea13 reports
- colitis12 reports
- fall10 reports
- aphasia9 reports
- dermatitis bullous9 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean polidocanol caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 26, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is polidocanol?
Asclera is a sterile, nonpyrogenic, and colorless to faintly greenish-yellow solution of polidocanol for intravenous use as a sclerosing agent. The active ingredient, polidocanol is a non-ionic detergent, consisting of two components, a polar hydrophilic (dodecyl alcohol) and an apolar hydrophobic (polyethylene oxide) chain.
What kind of drug is polidocanol?
The FDA classifies polidocanol as a sclerosing agent. If you are checking whether it is safe to combine with something else, the class is what matters — two drugs from the same class usually should not be stacked.
Can you take polidocanol with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run polidocanol against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What forms does polidocanol come in?
Across the brands we track, polidocanol is currently marketed as injectable, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic polidocanol?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled polidocanol product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Has polidocanol been recalled?
The FDA's Enforcement database lists 1 recall record whose product description mentions polidocanol. The most recent: Varithena (polidocanol injectable foam) Administration Pack (Aug 15, 2024). A recall applies to specific lots, not to the drug as a whole — check the record for the affected lot numbers.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Polidocanol: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/polidocanol
- MLA
- “Polidocanol: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/polidocanol.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for polidocanol on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.