What are the benefits of treatment?

The aim of treatment is to reduce symptoms and prevent long term complications developing. The visible appearance will be  greatly improved but it is possible to develop new veins later in life.

What treatments are available?

In order to choose the right treatment for you, your surgeon will need to scan the veins in your legs to determine where the valves have broken and how extensive the varicose veins are. The aim of treatment is to destroy or remove the damaged veins and force the blood to go away from the skin and back into the calf where it belongs.

 

Outcomes of different treatments for varicose veins - September 2021

 

                                      Recanalisation        Nerve          Return to       Recurrent

                                      At follow up            damage        work              varicose veins

ClariVein                           4%                      Zero             same day           16%         5yrs

Laser (EVLT)                      6.8%                    5 - 10%         3.6 days           38.6%       5yrs

Foam                                31.5%                   Zero              2.9 days           31.7%       5yrs

Radio frequency               5.8%                   5 - 26%         2.9 days          18.7%       5yrs

Open Surgery                   6.3%                   5 - 10%         4.3 days            23.4%       5yrs

 

ClariVein ultrasound guided ablation. - Our recommended treatment for most people.

ClariVein is an established safe and effective treatment which we have been using for 5 years. It is suitable for 85% of people. It is virtually pain free and allows rapid return to normal activities with minimal bruising or none.

It is done under a small amount of local anaesthetic. A small catheter is passed into the damaged vein and it spins round inside the vein while a type of sealant is injected to seal the damaged vein and make the body reabsorb it. You walk in and then walk out with a stocking on but with very little restriction while you recover.

Avoids the problems of laser including:-

No Tumescent anaesthesia with multiple injections, No risk of nerve damage, No risk of perforation and haematoma

 

Foam sclerotherapy is suitable for smaller veins or recurrent veins which are very twisty and which a catheter will not go up. This is again a type of sealant which blocks the damaged vein and makes the body reabsorb it.

Surgery under a general anaesthetic is needed for advanced or large veins. This is done as a day case and will involve a cut about one inch long either in the groin or behind the knee. In addition there will be very small incisions to remove the biggest bulging veins and this gives a good cosmetic result. 

Thread veins and spider veins can be treated after the main veins have been taken care of, so that you can get a good cosmetic result.