Derriford

All veins in your legs contain one-way flap valves that help the flow of blood as it returns to the heart. However, these valves can malfunction overtime and veins can become visible and bulge. This is known as varicose veins. Usually patients can experience problems with varicose veins such as aching, itching and a heavy feeling in the legs.

Varicose vein removal can be for a number of reasons, such as easing your symptoms, treating complications and for cosmetic reasons. Treatment will also depend on your health and the size and position of your veins as there are many techniques for removal.

Treatments

Generally speaking, the treatments use heat and light to remove the cause of the varicose vein which stops the blood from flowing the wrong way. As always, your GP will advise you on the best treatment that suits you. A few of these treatments are: surgery, Sclerotherapy and wearing compression stockings

Surgery

Varicose vein treatment involving surgery is carried out under general anaesthetic, although, depending on the procedure, patients can usually go home the same day. The procedure involves a technique (ligation and stripping) that ties off the varicose vein and removes it. The surgery will not affect the blood flow in your legs although it may cause pain, bruising and bleeding.

You should allow yourself between one to three weeks to fully recover before returning to work, and you may need to wear compression stockings for a period of time afterwards.

Compression stockings

These are specially designed for your legs to improve the circulation and encourage your blood to flow upwards. Another bonus of these stockings is that they could help relieve your pain and discomfort. However, it has to be mentioned that compression stockings may not prevent varicose veins from reappearing.

Sclerotherapy

This procedure is suitable for patients that have small to medium-sized varicose veins. It involves injecting a chemical into your veins which scars and closes them. Like usual surgery, Sclerotherapy is carried out using local anaesthetic along with painkilling medication to numb the leg area.

Guided by ultrasound scanning, the injection can be used to treat more than one vein in the same procedure.  From this surgery the varicose veins should fade as they are no longer in use, however, usually more than one session is needed to remove all veins. Again, like surgery you will need to wear compression stockings for a period of time.

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