Sit at the airport. Observe. Why do so many people – men and women – wear their pants too long? I’m not talking about “stylish” young men whose problem with long pants begins at their waist (where the “waist” begins somewhere between their hips and mid high.) No, I’m talking about the average person walking through the airport. There are about 4- 6 inches of excess material below the ankle. Why? What are they thinking? Do they look in the mirror… ever? Are they cognizant of the words “tailor,” “shorten” or “hem”? This excess material shows a lack of understanding of one’s height, dress and fashion sense or something worse.

Now I guess that most pant manufacturers think there must be a lot of people in this world with a 30-inch waist who are 6 feet tall. Many times when I get a pair of pants, 4-6 inches get taken off the bottom. There are exceptions: Polo, J. Crew and Levis, for instance. The outfit doesn’t work if the bottom looks like an accordion or you are continually mopping the floor with your pants. The bottom, or base, of your clothes is important; without the right base nothing is right.

In our work, we all start with the base. For some, the base may be basic knowledge about venous disease. It may also be the technical aspects of venous procedures or the solid financial base of your vein practice. Nevertheless, we all start at the bottom and work our way up. If the bottom is excessive – too much material and we don't tailor it to our particular needs – we can't grow professionally.

This issue-of VEIN helps you build and tailor your base and beyond. We want to help you better understand the basics of media, marketing and the business side of your vein practice, as well as feature some examples of successes within our area of expertise. A man whose pants are never too long is Mel Rosenblatt. His base is solid and he has built upon this base to develop a specialized practice in venous disease. In fact, he’s got the full outfit. And simulation training is another way to build your base quickly or expand your basic procedural knowledge. We have discussed this before but we take a different tack this time.

At VEIN we hope to give you the perfect fit, keeping in mind we all have different body types and we all have different practice types. Nevertheless, we won’t keep you bottom-heavy. We strive to enable you to tailor your professional and practice needs. We don’t want you walking around airports with long pants. The vein specialist dresses right: professionally. Put on your pants, look in the mirror, and make sure the bottom fits. Let VEIN help you build your practice from a proper base upwards.