My Choice for My Own Veins

Yesterday, I had my veins treated. I have had superficial vein reflux in both legs for over 12 years and over the last couple of years, my legs have swelled, ached and throbbed. Last summer in the hot weather, they were particularly painful. So the time had come to get them sorted out. What treatment would I choose and who would treat me?

In 2002, my colleague Wendy Parsons and I were looking to invest in a new ultrasound machine for the clinic and we decided that image quality would be a major consideration in the choice. We wanted to see which machine would allow us to see veins the best. We decided that Wendy would scan my legs and we would see which ultrasound machine gave the best picture. To my horror, she discovered that I had reflux and faulty valves in the main superficial vein (the great saphenous vein) of both legs. How could this be? I had no varicose veins on the surface to see and  I had no symptoms. In typical male fashion (according to my wife!), I decided to ignore the scan results.  Then a few years later, my legs began to ache and swell at the end of the day particularly in warm weather and on holiday. My legs would also itch and sometimes they would stop me from sleeping with restlessness. So, I started to wear medical socks in the hope that they would prevent deterioration. While I wore them, my legs felt fine and by moisturising my legs before bed, all seemed under control.

Until last year, that is, when things got worse and some varicose veins began to appear. The time had come for intervention.

I had no pain during or after the procedure and I’ll be back at work on Monday. I’ll let you know the results in a future blog.