No sand restoration of previously sanded stairs

[Brochdogs]

I hope someone can advise or link me to another thread if this has already been discussed (have searched).

Years ago I sanded and varnished my stairs, unfortunately with traffic especially of the dog kind the centre tread is all worn down and only the edges have varnish left. A real mess. I can't face the thought of complete resanding with all the dust. Does anyone have any experience or suggestions that would at least improve things? Thank you.

Paint, Carpet. Anything paint/varnish like is going to look better with a sand though

Put a runner type carpet down, leaving the varnished edges visible.

Hot air paint stripper. Then paint to cover the scorch marks!

Carpet, carpet runner, stair pads, get a professional in to sand (they do not create dust), hire a sander that collects the dust.

Hire an extraction unit for the sander ( like a hoover ). It fixes to the sander and sucks away most of the dust, the one I used was very good.

Thank you everyone!