What happens on the day of a varicose vein procedure?

Patients, once a decision is made that they need to have had a treatment, this will be after they have had a full history and a duplex examination performed. This is an ultrasound of the legs to confirm that there is incompetence in the veins that need to be treated. On the day of treatment, they will be admitted either to an office or to a hospital setting where treatment will occur. A decision will have already been made as to whether it is going to be performed under local or general anaesthetic. The majority of cases now are treated under local anaesthetic, so the patient will come in, will get consented, then if they are having a thermal technique, i.e. laser or radiofrequency, they will then have what is called tumescent anaesthesia, where local anaesthetic is injected around the vein to prevent burning of the tissues and also to give pain relief. If they are just having little avulsions and bits of vein hooked out, this may be done using tuminescent anaesthesia or local anaesthesia. There will be a cohort of patients who have very extensive veins, or they may need to have both legs done at the same time, in whom the clinician will have discussed with the patient prior to coming in as to whether they need to have general or local anaesthesia. Once the procedure itself is has been performed there is an indication that patients probably would benefit from wearing compression hosiery for somewhere between three and seven days post intervention. The only category of patients this may not apply to are those patients who are having glue therapy.