Varicose vein stripping and ligation surgery 

  • Varicose veins rarely cause serious illness, but can be disfiguring and cause people to feel unconfident. The NHS does not routinely offer varicose vein surgery, except under specific circumstances (1)
  • The characteristic distorted and enlarged veins appear mainly on the legs, with 30 per cent of women and 15 per cent of men (1) developing them (women get varicose veins more often due to side-effects of pregnancy)
  • Varicose veins can also develop after long periods of standing and in overweight or obese people (2)
 

References:
1) NHS CKS Library
Varicose Veins
Accessed May 21 2009
2) Beebe-Dimmer, Pfeifer & Engle et al
The Epidemiology of Chronic Venous Insufficiency and Varicose Veins
Annals of Epidemiology, Volume 15, Issue 3, Pages 175-184 (Mar 2005)

 
 

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