Varicose Veins treatment

[Tigger13]

Hi

I am 34 with 3 ds's 6, 3 and 11months, I have always had rubbish veins but after birth of DS3 they are awful my one leg is covered in bulges at top and now spreading to calf which is going to be hard to wear skirts in the summer .
I have seen a consultant and he has done an ultra scan and says I can have them removed surgically or by injecting them and applying pressure as a day patient and then keeping them under pressure, sorry i don;t know what its called, anyway I was just wondering if anyone had gone through the injection option?? did it work, did the leg go flat afterwards, did you get any scaring and more importantly the recovery time scale??

I am in a lot of pain at the moment so any advice appreciated as becoming a real issue, I am about stone too heavy at the moment which I am working on and hav joined a gym to try and improve my fittness level, but to be honest not sure if with the boys little now is the best time to go through any operation.

Many Thanks for reading

xx

[Tigger13]

bump

[Clure]

Bump for you. I have some bulgy veins developing in one leg (became worse after DD) and have briefly looked at treatments. I think what you mention is called sclerotherapy (not sure if correct, sorry if it isn't!!) I'm not sure of the success rate but seems a better option than surgery. hoping someone with some experience reads this. Good luck anyway Tigger

[marge2]

I had blue but not too bulgy veins on one thigh and down to shin after kids and opted to have them removed surgically - apparently injecetion was not an option. It was total bloody agony for ages afterwards I was black and blue - actually black mind - not just dark bruises!!!! Proper actual BLACK afterwards for ages and in tons of pain. I went to see the GP who told me it was normal and it would take time for the bruises to go down. It did eventually all stop hurting but 2 years later I still have discolouration where they pulled the veins out. All in all I wish I hadn't bothered as it was only cosmetic - I had no pain from them before the op - and I still have marks so no better off anyway, after all that pain and swelling which meant I needed help to look after the kids for a good couple of weeks. THey were little at the time so kept jumping on me and bashing into me. OOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!

[giddykipper]

I had bulging veins in both legs and had them both stripped under GA. I was laid up for a while but this was pre-kids so not an issue. There was one left which they injected - it was quite painful and didn't disappear in the end. I could have tried again but it didn't bother me that much that I wanted to go through the discomfort again. This was a good few years ago now though to the procedure might have changed.

[giddykipper]

Just to add - now no sign of where the veins were apart from four 1cm sized scars.

[ZacharyQuack]

I had a vein in one leg fixed by injection last year, and it was fine. The procedure took about 2 hours, under LA. I could feel the LA injections, but nothing else. After the procedure was finished, the leg was padded and a compression stocking fitted. I had to go for a 1 hour walk immediately afterwards, and walk for an hour every day after.

I removed the padding after a few days and had to wear the stocking 24/7 for about 4 weeks. The day after the procedure my leg was stiff and sore, but it was OK by the second day. The vein initially went hard and then gradually faded away. After a month or two there was no sign that it was ever there.

Go for it, you won't regret it.

[Clure]

wow thats positive news ZacharyQuack. Think I may look into it after the summer as don;t fancy elastic stocking in my summer skirts. Thanks

[Tigger13]

Thanks ZacharyQuack that sounds amazing, I feel really positive after your message actually thinking I may go for it.

Thank Clure, Marge2 that sounds a nightmare and why i'm so scared about having them stripped. Thanks giddykipper good to hear both sides.

ZacharyQuack would you say you would have been ok around 3 lively boys and if not how long after would you say you were ok? also if you work did you take much time off after??

Thanks very much for messages

[bettybeetroot]

similar to giddykipper, i had veins stripped about 18 mnths ago. it was fine and the only thing that bothered me was the tightness of the stockings afterwards. on follow up i also had a small one injected and some thread veins. the vein didn't dissapear but the thread veins did. see a really good surgeon to see what's best for you. my surgeon gave me the choice but i wanted them gone. i had a few small scars that were visible last summer but looking at them now they are not really visible at all. what put me off the the injections was the small risk of having permanent discolouration. i know the risks with surgery but welcomed the overnight break in the nuffield!

[bettybeetroot]

(if you are in the southwest i used prof bruce campbell)

[ZacharyQuack]

Hi Tigger, I have 2 lively girls and was OK looking after them, though the youngest was 3 at the time, so I didn't have to carry anyone. I don't work, but if I did I would probably have liked the 1st day after off, and then would have been OK. It would depend on your type of work though, if you could sit for most of the day with your leg held fairly stiffly in front of you (propped up if possible) you'd probably be more comfortable than you would be at home with 3 boys!

I had mine done in early spring, so it was nice enough to go for a walk every day, but cool enough to wear trousers to cover the granny stocking.

The only other hassle is that you can't get the padding wet, which means no baths or showers for the first few days, and you have to wear the stocking in the bath/shower which meant I spent more time blowdrying my leg than my hair!

I'm in New Zealand and had it done privately.