THOUSANDS of people suffering from varicose veins could benefit from a new treatment.
Traditional treatments for varicose veins involve surgery or laser treatment, which both carry a risk of nerve damage or can leave sensitive patches on a patient’s leg.
Consultant vascular surgeons Eddie Chaloner and Aaron Sweeney at BMI Blackheath Hospital, in Lee Terrace, Blackheath, are the first surgeons in the country to offer the new ClariVein procedure.
It involves a rotating catheter being inserted into a patient’s leg to remove the lining of the offending vein while a drug causes the vein to collapse in on itself.
It takes no more than 15 minutes to complete and does not require an anaesthetic.
Mr Chaloner said: “Patients so far have not required pain killers after surgery and have resumed normal activity almost immediately.”
Varicose veins affect 30 per cent of the UK population and are characterised by swollen superficial veins which look lumpy and dark blue or purple through a patient’s skin.
For more information, bmihealthcare.co.uk/blackheath or call 020 8297 4519.
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