Think of varicose veins and you might well think of elderly ladies with support stockings. However, they are in fact the blight of many women of all ages, and pregnancy can often be a trigger for developing them or making them worse. They are enlarged, blue/purple veins that protrude from the skin, usually on the legs and ankles.
They don’t necessarily require treatment – however, sufferers may feel acutely self-conscious about them but don’t wish to keep hiding their legs under trousers or long skirts. The NHS rarely funds treatment for varicose veins purely for cosmetic reasons, though, so if sufferers merely want to improve the appearance of their legs they would probably have to pay privately.
As well as for cosmetic reasons, sufferers may require treatment if they are painful or uncomfortable, or if they lead to complications like leg ulcers or swelling.
The treatments offered rather depend on factors such as the size of the veins, how bad they are and whereabouts on the body they are situated.
Treatments include:
Compression stockings: also known as support stockings. They squeeze the legs to improve circulation, encouraging the blood to flow up the leg to the heart rather than ‘gather’ in the veins. They don’t necessarily stop the veins getting worse or prevent more occurring. They can be uncomfortable to wear and many women don’t like wearing them because they are so associated with old age.
If compression stockings aren’t an option or aren’t helping, then surgery may be appropriate. It’s usually carried out under general anaesthetic but is normally a day procedure, meaning that unless patients react badly to the anaesthetic they won’t need to stay overnight.
The surgery involves “ligation and stripping” – the culprit vein is tied off from the rest of the circulatory system and removed. The other veins are more than capable of dealing with the removed vein’s workload. Possible side-effects include pain, bruising and bleeding, and in some cases the risk of deep vein thrombosis.
Another option is “sclerotherapy”, which involves injecting a chemical to scar the veins, sealing them closed. It’s less invasive than the above-mentioned surgery but only works well on small or medium-sized veins. It also has more potential side-effects, including: pain, blood clots, lower-back pain, brown patches discolouring the skin, temporary vision problems and headaches.
There are other therapies available, but not on the NHS. These are: laser treatment; transilluminated phlebectomies and radiofrequency ablations.
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