Myths About Varicose Veins - "There's no point in operating on Varicose Veins as they always come back"
Varicose veins have been treated as unimportant (or cosmetic only) for so long that doctors, nurses and patients themselves regard varicose veins as a minor problem - although in most cases it is wrong to do so.
We know that the only way to accurately diagnose the cause of varicose veins or similar problems (thread veins, venous eczema, haemosiderin, thrombo-phlebitis, leg-ulcers etc) is by finding out what is going wrong with the Leg Pump.
We also know that the only way, in the clinical setting, to find out what is going on with the leg pump is to carry out a specialist Duplex Ultrasound test - however most GPs, nurses and many surgeons tell people whether they have varicose veins or not WITHOUT this test -
- in other words they are guessing!
Nowadays, since this website was launched in 1999, more and more surgeons are carrying out a Duplex Ultrasound on their patients before they operate. However, a large number still do not. Such surgeons are guessing where the problem is - and their operations are based on these educated guesses.
There is good evidence that failing to do a Duplex Ultrasound results in about one third of patients getting the wrong operation - therefore it's not surprising that these patients get their varicose veins back very quickly.
Furthermore, varicose vein surgery is usually carried out by non-specialist consultants or left to the junior staff to perform the surgery. As such many surgeons have little interest in keeping up to date with the very latest techniques. For instance, we have proven and published the fact that having your veins stripped leads to them growing back fully or partially in 23% of people within one year - and our latest work shows they grow back in 76% of people in 5 years. (www.veinstripping.co.uk)
However, with the techniques and protocols developed at The Whiteley Clinic, we have never seen a treated vein grow back (and that is since 1999) and the only people we have treated who have got their veins back again are those people who develop new varicose veins - the risk of this being about 3 - 4% per year.
It is clear that if varicose veins were discovered as a new disease tomorrow, and there was no history or prejudice about the condition, we would form guidelines that would include proper investigation and treatment. After all, you wouldn't have your gallbladder taken out without an ultrasound to prove you had stones; you wouldn't have your bowel operated on without having a test to know where the problem is - why accept varicose vein surgery without a test showing where the veins are coming from?
At The Whiteley Clinic we introduced "Keyhole" surgery (also known as "Pinhole surgery" or "Minimally invasive surgery) for varicose veins to the UK, by performing the country's first VNUS Closure in March 1999. We have pioneered and developed the best method of performing this and other techniques (www.pioneering-veins-surgery.co.uk). By doing this, we have done exactly what others have failed to do - made sure that all of our patients:
- are fully assessed before treatment
- are given the optimal technique or combination of techniques chosen to ensure effective treatment
- are guided during the surgery by Duplex Ultrasound to ensure effective treatment
- have all veins checked at the end of the operation to make sure the best result possible has been obtained
Mark Whiteley talks about why Varicose Veins come back after being removed
