When To Seek Medical Attention For Varicose Veins

Written by Dallas Vein Specialists on July 9, 2012

I have seen patients over the years who have been told by their family doctors not to worry about their varicose veins. They were in essence instructed to live with their bulging and uncomfortable veins. Young women have been told not to have their varicose veins treated until they were finished having children. Perhaps there was a time when such advice was prudent considering the traumatic stripping operations of the past and the relatively high incidence of complications, scarring, and recurrent varicosities.

Now with the much safer and easier minimally invasive procedures for varicose veins there is no reason a patient should suffer with a problem that is so readily treatable. And women in their child-bearing years should have their varicose vein problems corrected before they become pregnant or between pregnancies. This would actually reduce the vein complications related to pregnancy, e.g. thrombophlebitis, and would relieve the misery of the increased severity of symptoms that pregnant women with varicose veins must endure.

So in answer to the question initially raised, “When to seek medical attention for varicose veins?”, I submit the following recommendations:

• When symptoms occur
• When cosmetic improvement is desired
• When there is thickening or discoloration of skin in the ankle region
• When there is impending or active ulceration or hemorrhage

Of course only an experienced vein specialist should be relied upon to evaluate these problems and recommend appropriate treatment.