Eeeraghhh! Varicose vein!! Help me!!!

[Onmyhighchairhorse]

7 months pregnant - DC3 - and I have acquired the most catastrophic varicose veins all over my right shin and down to the ankle - it looks like mega-bruises, like I have been kicked by a small angry horse! Appreciate I can do feck all now except sit around wearing support tights/long skirts/trousers and grow the baby, but I would appreciate your experiences of surgery/laser/other options so I can pin my hopes on something for after baby arrives..I don't need to get on a catwalk but I would like to wear shorts again one day! And - why the right leg only??!! I sleep on my left side but could this be uterine vein squishing?

they are all over my face, think yourself lucky :o

I've got a varicose vein in my left leg, thanks to a twin pregnancy.

I've been refered for treatment and have just had a scan on it, to make sure it's just a straightforward varicose vein. The consultant has said treatment options ar either surgery or injecting it - I'm opting for the injection and hopefully will get it done soon.

Apparently tendency to veins can be hereditary, so we can blame our parents . AFAIK, laser treatment is possible for thread veins, but won't work on a varicose vein, which appear because the valve has 'blown' and therefore needs to be dealt with.

Hope that's some help. If it's still bad post-birth, don't put off seeing your GP - NHS treatment for varicose veins is going to become much harder to get thanks to cuts in the next year or so.

Are they painful? Or just unsightly? I'm not accusing you of being shallow, you understand (coming from me, the vainest person I know...I am literaly tempted to wear a crash helmet when I have a cold sore, just like the bird in the advert from years ago....) it's just that, should they remain after the baby is born, you are more likely to be able to get them removed if they are painful rather than just unsightly.

I have a big one in my left thigh that throbs like a bugger sometimes!

They are painful and itchy - like a network of fat throbbing purple noodles on the skin of my shin and round and up into the back of my knee and thigh, surrounded by starbursts of purple and red thread veins down into my foot and fanning outwards. Sounds beautiful, no?! I had absolutely no idea they could be this dramatic. It is a real dogs dinner.. Yet my left leg is pristine!!

I still have a bit of one on one leg 3 months after giving birth, but luckily the ones in my, ahem, ladyparts went after he was born.

I was hoping the one in my leg would go too as I have a wedding next month butI suspect I will be wearing tights with my knee length dress.....

I had a vein stripped a few years back. Surgery. I was happy with it. ABout five tiny little white dots on my leg are the only signs, but no one notices them.