Originally Posted by
peterws
. . .Nothing? Or Imminent Death? You can supply the answers, hopefully somewhere inbetwen those two. As long as its sensible or funny. .
This posting is a biproduct of me acquiring an unwanted heel spur, followed by plantir fascilitis a year later.
I wasnt expecting that.
My neighbourhod Quack never warned me of it, did he?
So I asks the question of you most knowledgeable lot. . .
Sorry, your career as a male swimsuit model is over.
Serious answer here: another of my areas of experience. I've had 8 or 9 total vein procedures on my legs over the last 5 years to correct poor circulation, venous insufficiency, bad valves. Varicose veins are pretty inevitable with age, most people get them.
Most people just live with them, unless they 1) hurt/cause pain/feel heavy/tired, especially towards evening; 2) ulcerate and bleed; 3) cause unaccpetable swelling and/or worse yet, blood clots, 4) don't like the looks of them and choose to have something done for cosmetic reasons. YMMV, as they say.
Treatment options include sclerotherapy (scarring/burning/killing with chemicals), ablation (thermal/radio laser treatment via inserted probe, microphlebectomy (removal of veins in short sections via small punctures), open phlebectomy (full incisions, hardly ever done these days from what I've been told). Pre-treatment diagnostic testing, for me anyway, has always been by ultrasound - not painful or uncomfortable, just takes about an hour and a lot of ultrasound "goo" to clean off afterwards.
Having been through this a number of times, I would say 1) well worth it, I have much better circulation, much less edema, much less pain, look better/more normal color and not as purple, even regrowth of much of the hair that had disappeared before treatments, which is a sign of overall improved health of the legs. 2) On a pain/inconvenience scale, I'd say that a microphlebectomy is maybe a 4-5, ablation is 3-4, and the shots are a 2-3. Personally, I'd rather have another vein procedure than another dental procedure to pull a tooth and implant a post, that was worse overall than any of my vein procedures. 3) No real "down-time" from any of those. After the ablation procedure there is just one (or a few, if they have to make multiple entry points due to the configuration of veins being treated) small puncture wound, you get wrapped in an elastic bandage for a couple of days, and you are told to keep it clean and dry and refrain from vigorous activity for a week. With microphlebectomy, it's slightly longer, because of numerous small punctures - about 3-4 days wrapped up, a week without vigorous exercise, and 10 days without getting it wet (pools, bathtubs, showers). All of my procedures and diagnostic testing were done in-office, no hospitalizations or surgical centers.
Definitely something worth doing if you need it medically, IMHO.