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Patient information
This treatment has been offered to treat your varicose veins. It is a safe and effective treatment endorsed by NICE, the Government’s health body, as a gold standard treatment.
The laser causes localised heating of the main vein which is causing your varicose veins and leads to immediate closure of the vein, with no damage to the surrounding tissues and a very low risk of complications.
This is performed under local anaesthetic and sedation so that you will not have any discomfort and will recover quickly from the procedure. One or several veins can be treated at the same time on one or both legs.
The exact procedure to be performed will be described to you in the clinic and on the day of surgery. On each occasion an ultrasound scan will be performed to determine the exact site of laser treatment.
On occasion, the laser treatment will be combined with some tiny incisions to remove swollen veins. Again, this additional procedure will be explained and agreed with you.
This procedure is extremely safe. There is some bruising from the local anaesthetic injections and on occasion some tightness and tenderness over the area where the vein has been treated. However, these symptoms are mild and entirely self-limiting.
The main serious risk which has been reported, but this is very remote – in the region of 1 in 1,000 cases.
Some numbness may occur due to the laser entry site, the local anaesthetic or where veins are removed. This occurs very infrequently and is rarely permanent.
Following laser ablation only, without removal of veins, there will be a small dressing over the laser entry site. This dressing should be left in place for 8 days. It is waterproof and you can shower as normal. When you remove the dressing there are some paper strips which will fall away naturally. The entry wound is tiny and will disappear without leaving any mark.
If you have some veins removed at the same time, these incisions will be covered with similar waterproof dressings placed over gauze pads. These give the dressings a raised appearance; the pads provide some localised pressure and reduce postoperative bruising. These dressings should remain in place for 10 days.
Often an appointment will be made for you around this time so the surgeon can remove the dressings and inspect the excision sites. Sometimes small sutures are placed in the wounds, and these are removed at 10 days.
A compression stocking is placed over the padded waterproof dressings. This should be worn day and night for 7 days and then during the day for a further 7 days. It can be removed for a short period to shower from the day after the operation.
Sometimes, when a large number of veins have been removed, a compression bandage is placed over the waterproof dressings. This should be removed after 24 hours, after which you can shower and the compression stocking is replaced.
The exact instructions will be reinforced with you on the day of the operation.
Generally, you should expect a very good recovery from varicose vein surgery and you should be relatively pain free after the operation. When extensive veins have been removed there will be some bruising and lumpiness, but this will resolve.
The eventual cosmetic result normally takes about 6 weeks, but a very satisfactory result can be anticipated.
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Please contact Mr Crinnion’s secretary, Maxine Levene.
Tel: 0787 028 0264
Email: enquiries@jamescrinnion.co.uk
Related information
Mr Crinnion’s office is happy to help before and after your procedure.