My veins were treated with ELA, but they are back and a lot worse than before. Did my doctor do something wrong? Should I just forget about it or should I go back and have the doctor see what he did wrong?
We recommend you see either your doctor (if you are comfortable), or another vein specialist. You need a thorough venous insufficiency ultrasound examination to determine whether a treated vein has recannulated, or if you have formed new vessels. Ultrasound will help guide treatment possibilities.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
You need a follow-up ultrasound to get the answer.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
I recommend finding another doctor. Visit the website for the American College of Phlebology and find a doctor near your area. This will give you an accredited physician who has more experience in treating venous insufficiency.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Not seeing when your prior treatment was and what was actually treated, it is difficult to say. However, those with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) can develop new varicose veins in other areas. It is typically an inherited trait involving valve failure in the vein (usually saphenous).
There are also perforator veins (between the saphenous and superficial veins) that have valves, and these can also cause the saphenous (GSV) to reopen and create more varicose veins (think of VV as a pressure relief valve).
I would see your surgeon again and have an ultrasound to see what is causing this.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Depending on how long ago was the treatment done, it is possible that you have re-opening of some of the treated veins. Another possibility is that you might have some of the secondary branches that were not properly treated in the first place.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
Chronic venous insufficiency is chronic problem and you and your doctor need to treated like chronic problem. After all procedures you need series of ultrasound to check if all bad and insufficient veins are closed and if there is a vein still open. We have protocol that we see our patients post procedure 1st week, 1,3,6,12 months post procedure. Also we recommend compression stocking, exercise and some supplements.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
It's worth getting an ultrasound to see if the treated veins have reopened, which can happen in approximately two percent of patients. These are very effectively treated by repeating the procedure.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
If the only treatment you received was ELA, you did NOT have all of your veins treated. ELA can only treat certain vessels. Most veins can not be treated using ELA. So if you only had ELA, your doc probably only treated less than 5% of what you have from a vein disease standpoint. This is why it seems like everything came back. Your doctor never got rid of them in the first place. This is why good vein treatments take months to complete, not just 1-2 visits. Any doctor who says they can treat your vein issues in 1-2 visits does not know what they are doing.
Published on Jul 11, 2012
You should return to your doctor or see a vein specialist. The first thing that I would do is repeat the venous reflux ultrasound to see what is the status of the treated veins and to find a reason for the recurrences. Because veins have come back, does not mean that anything was done wrong.
Published on Jul 11, 2012