Welcome to the Veins Website - a site dedicated to the understanding of varicose veins, underlying causes of varicose veins and the best treatments available for varicose veins
In particular, this site explains the new "keyhole" surgery for varicose veins that was introduced to the UK in March 1999 by Mr Mark Whiteley (see www.Pioneering-veins-surgery.co.uk).
Mr Whiteley started off by being the first in the UK to use VNUS Closure®. He and his team have now continued developing their techniques, inventing and developing new procedures and staying at the forefront of vein surgery.
This website is dedicated to helping you understand how veins work and how they can go wrong.
At The Whiteley Clinic we believe in the quote by Abraham Maslow:
"If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail"
In the new world of walk-in walk-out vein surgery (also called minimally invasive vein surgery, pinhole vein surgery or keyhole vein surgery) this is shown to be very true.
Many doctors, hospitals or clinics have decided to go for one technique - such as VNUS Closure® FAST™, EVLA (or EVLT®) or Foam Sclerotherapy. However, although these are excellent techniques for some patients and some veins, if one wants to get the best treatment and have the appropriate tools to treat every vein, it is clear that a vein clinic needs ready access to:
- EVLA (Endovenous laser Ablation)
- TRLOP closure of perforators (using VNUS RFS® or Celon RFITT)
- Ultrasound guided foam sclerotherapy - preferably using oxygen and carbon-dioxide and NOT air
- Ambulatory phlebectomy
- Coil or gelfoam embolisation of Pelvic veins by Interventional radiology
- Microsclerotherapy for thread veins
Other techniques that are good to have but are not essential are:
- VNUS Closure® FAST™ which is suitable for some long veins with uniform walls
- Liquid sclerotherapy
Now no patient needs general anaesthetic for vein surgery unless they wish to have it for personal choice. As the new procedures have all been designed for local anaesthetic walk-in walk-out use, they work best under local anaesthesia. Indeed, as patients can tell if the surgeon is near a nerve when they are awake, local anaesthesia walk-in walk-out surgery reduces the risks of nerve damage and DVT, as well as getting rid of the risks and expense of general anaesthesia. More information about the advantages of Local Anaesthetic Veins Surgery can be found on www.local-anaesthetic-vein-treatment.co.uk.
Finally, we stopped stripping veins many years ago as it had become clear that stripping led to veins growing back in a large number of patients - unlike the new procedures that prevent this from happening. We won a prize for this work and it was published in the British Journal of Surgery in July 2007 (see www.veinstripping.co.uk).
Since that time, no vein expert should recommend stripping of the veins - and no patient should consent to having their veins stripped unless they are really convinced that the risks of pain, larger scars and the risk of their vein growing back again, is their best option.
