Varicose veins

Yogagran I was impressed by the wordplay in your first sentence!

I have the most appalling varicose veins (thanks kids, and for the saggy tummy!!) I understand that the NHS won't do anything about them unless they are causing problems. Mine rarely hurt but are terribly unsightly and the worst ones are on one of my feet. In fact, I have one fairly presentable leg and one absolutely awful leg I ALWAYS wear long skirts or trousers.

I had varicose veins for years, they weren't any trouble but eventually developed a patch that the doctor thought might turn into an ulcer. This meant I was able to have the veins in both legs removed on the NHS. The silly thing is that it never occurred to me that it would mean losing all the horrible lumpy bits on my legs It was all quite simple and I was able to go home next day. The worst bit was not being able to change the bandages for days - I was followed everywhere by a horrible smell of dried blood! It must be at least ten years since I had the operation and I am now beginning to get new veins appearing but they're still nothing like as bad as they were.

I've had them since I was 13 years old. In my early 20's and before kids one leg ached appallingly and it was injected with something or other. No more problems since then. I wear what I like and rarely think about the veins. My legs are not pretty but they still work well and if they offend anyone then that is their problem not mine. I do wish I didn't have them though but they have been a part me for most of my life.

I had an operation for varicose veins about 20 years ago as I have life time private medical insurance and they are starting to come back.
As they are not too bad I am going to wait to see how people get on with laser treatment as a couple of small scars were left from my last operation.
Strangely a young lady asked about them a little while ago but I would not have noticed them in her case had she not pointed them out.
I have told her to see her doctor but in my opinion as a man I would not say they were far from being bad enough from a cosmetic point of view to be operated on at the time I saw them.

Frank

I saw something on the news this morning about a lady who went into hospital to have her varicose veins treated and ended up losing her leg.

This has only served to strengthen my resolve only to have surgery if medically necessary and not for sheer vanity....I am sure the manufacturers of support tights will be happy about that!!

A friend of an aunt had her varicose veins operated on many years ago. She developed DVT (deep vein thrombosis) afterwards and has been on Warfarin ever since. She regrets ever having had the surgery done because of the DVT.

Thanks everyone for your replies

I think tiggypiro's reply was the one that was the most relevant to me when she said: "My legs are not pretty but they still work well and if they offend anyone then that is their problem not mine."

I will bear that in mind and carry on as I am. Thanks tiggy

I've had them since 18 so, as you can imagine they look dreadful. Latest info is - leave well alone unless you really can't stand them as they will come back. This is because, if you have a tendency to develop them, if you have the bad ones removed, it will just overload the healthy ones left.
I am just resigned to wearing dark tights with longer skirts or trousers....see it as just a simple fact of life and hardly think about it.

My legs never see the light of day and haven't for a long time [I'm talking decades here not years]. Do you remember when coloured tights were fashionable? I had some blue ones and was horrified to see the effect of blue tights with blue lines running amongst them [the veins]. It was like a monochrome version of the London Underground map. Opaque black since then. Funny thing is, when I'm lying in the bath I look down at them and they look perfect. And, don't get me started on the thread veins...

This is quite interesting about why varicose veins come back. Of course, it is an advert for a very expensive private clinic and may not be completely objective. He also mentions in passing new treatments other than 'stripping' but I haven't looked at the website.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1CPfoMsiYM

Hope this doesn't count as advertising . I never met this man in my life, honest!

I have had three operations on varicose veins in my lifetime, and have been happy with the results(no pain or aching legs), but my daughter had keyhole surgery on hers 2 years ago, and she told the specialist that her leg was worse; aching and pain. .doctor insisted that there was nothing wrong. ''''''''''''''''''''''''she kept going back to her G.P., for creamto rub in,and eventually he agreed to send her back to specialist.; a different one, who did another keyhole surgery.Her leg is still the same,pain and aching, but doc says her scan is o.k.She has to wear support tights and still gets ointment to rub in the affected leg.Where do we go from here??Any comments will be appreciated.

Course not nightowl but don't give your money to people like this unless you check with an NHS doctor first. There are quacks around pushing unproven treatments. Is it actually true that the NHS will not operate? My DIL, bless her, had surgery for the worst of hers 10 years ago.

I have varicose veins and they are not very pretty - however they reduce if I sit with my legs up if possible above my waist and support stockings help a lot.

Don't worry Jess I don't have the kind of money he is likely to charge to waste on my appearance. Good advice to see GP first though for anyone considering it, if varicose veins are causing problems. I just found what he was saying interesting.

My legs are not pretty for all sorts of reasons, I don't know where anyone would start. But as someone said, they work and that's what matters!

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Hello! Since my second pregnancy, I got varicose veins on my legs. The treatment that I used to get rid of them is venorid. The results are awesome!