Yesterday at Wigmore Medical in London, I provided another course to healthcare professionals on the treatment of leg and face thread veins. Since my colleague Emma Davies and I started this training course in 2002, we have now successfully trained 500 delegates on the assessment and treatment of leg and facial thread veins.
Recently, the faculty of VeinCare Training has been joined by Dr Joney De Souza. Joney is a highly experienced and very sought after specialist in Aesthetic Medicine based in Harley Street.
In published scientific trials, sclerotherapy always comes out tops for the removal of thread veins on the legs and most vein specialists regard it as the “gold standard”. In this treatment, a prescription medicine called a sclerosant is injected directly into the thread veins using very fine needles, slightly bigger than a human hair. The sclerosant removes the lining of the vein instantly (surprisingly this is not painful) and then the vein responds over the course of 6 weeks by shrinking and becoming much less apparent. Usually, 3 treatment sessions separated by 6 weeks are needed to achieve the desired improvement.
For the face, neck and chest, an electrical treatment called Short Wave Diathermy gives excellent results. After numbing the affected area with local anaesthetic cream applied to the skin, a very fine needle is used to conduct a medical electrical current into the veins which are heated and instantly sealed. Usually only one treatment is needed and the veins disappear after 4 weeks.
The course that I run in London in association with Wigmore Medical is supported by a comprehensive course manual that delegates receive in advance to study and then the theoretical aspects are summarised by intensive lectures in the morning. After a short lunch break, the delegates are instructed on the treatments. The techniques are demonstrated and then the delegates get to do the treatments themselves under my careful scrutiny and supervision. I am always very grateful to the volunteers with thread veins who allow the delegates to inject their leg thread veins by sclerotherapy and allow their facial thread veins to be removed by Short Wave Diathermy. All yesterday’s delegates were able to have “hands-on” experience over several hours.
Yesterday’s delegates included Mr Zola Mzimba, Nurse McLaughlin, Nurse Langasco, Dr Baddipudi and Dr Carlos Xavier. I would like to congratulate the successful delegates who attended our course yesterday.