Differentiated surgical therapy prior to the occurrence of serious complications makes good medical sense and is becoming an economic necessity. It includes verification and interruption of points of insufficiency, permanent elimination of varicosis, minimisation of complications, and the best cosmetic results. New operating techniques have emerged during the breathtaking development of minimally invasive surgery and now been added to the repertoire. In the hands of experienced surgeons, these methods, either alone or in conjunction with vein stripping, are more precise. Due to the low surgical trauma, they also achieve less wound infection and good cosmesis in conjunction with reduced relapse rates. Given the pressure to reduce health care costs, a further increase in outpatient surgery for varicosis can be expected in the future. It must meet the same standards of quality demanded in treatment methods involving hospitalisation. There will nevertheless remain a significant number of patients with varicosis requiring surgical treatment and hospitalisation due to risk factors, extent of the varicosis, or stage of the disease.