Reflexology by Jade Davidson at The Whiteley Clinic, London

We are delighted to announce a new service for our London patients, starting March this year (2012).

The Whiteley Clinic specialises in providing the very latest local anaesthetic surgery for varicose veins and venous disease (such as leg ulcers, venous eczema, phlebitis etc). However a great many patients find the whole idea of surgery (even the latest keyhole surgery) quite stressful. 

To help reduce this stress and anxiety, we are very pleased to be able to offer the expertise of Jade Davidson, reflexologist from "Rosey Feet".

In conjunction with Mark Whiteley, Jade has developed a range of packages to help Whiteley Clinic patients through their local anaesthetic procedure, to relax after immediately after the operation and to sleep well the night before the operation.  

As this is a new service, it will only be available to our London patients in the first instance. If you would like to know more about this service, please download our leaflet by clicking below, or contact Jade directly at jade@roseyfeet.co.uk :

Click here to download information sheet and price list

Tatler March 2012

There was a lovely article in the current edition of Tatler (March 2012, p202) entitled "Tatler Treatments".

Amonst several excellent sections on the page, Mark Whiteley was featured for the treatment of excessive sweating.

The article is well worth the read.

http://www.tatler.com/magazine

Why not to use laser for Leg Thread Veins

I saw this young lady today who had been to a cosmetic clinic for removal of leg thread veins.

She had not been offered a Doppler or duplex ultrasound, and so the clinic had missed her underlying venous reflux ("hidden varicose veins") which contributed to her thread veins.

In addition, she had been treated with external Laser to the skin, which had failed to get rid of the majority of the thread veins, and had left her after healing for several months, with these very noticeable white scars on the skin.

Although external laser treatment is very good for thread veins of the face, which is above the heart and therefore there are no gravity problems associated with the thread veins and the facial skin is very resistant to heat as it is always exposed, the reverse is found for thread veins of the legs.

Thread veins of the legs are affected by gravity, especially if associated with underlying "hidden" varicose veins, and so it is essential to have a venous duplex ultrasound before any treatment is planned.



Once treatment is planned and the underlying veins are fixed, the thread veins of the legs should be treated with microsclerotherapy injections and NOT external laser, which can easily burn and scar the skin of the leg, which is far more sensitive to radiation and laser.

see: www.thread-veins.co.uk

"Shaving Foam" for Varicose Veins

In today's Times is an article on page 37 entitled ""Shaving Foam" treatment of varicose veins passes test".

Although a very good piece to attract interest and funding, the article states that the treatment of varicose veins "usually" consists of "stripping them out" under "general anaesthetic".

Well as anyone who has been following our work at The Whiteley Clinic will know, we were presenting prize winning research in 2005 showing such treatment to be inadequate (www.veinstripping.co.uk) and our work was even featured in the Mail in December 2010 in a feature entitled:

"Ladies, stop stripping .... (your varicose veins that is!)

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1335718/Ladies-stop-stripping---varicose-veins--A-leading-vascular-surgeon-says-outdated-procedure-replaced-laser-treatment.html

Therefore although Foam is a good procedure in minor cosmetic veins, or in some recurrent veins, it is only really useful when used in CONJUNCTION with other endovenous techniques such as endovenous laser ablation (EVLA), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), coil embolisation etc.

Thus, as the research is fairly clear that in large varicose veins where the main vei to be treated is larger than 6 mm the results from foam sclerotherapy are far inferior in the medium to long term compared to these other endovenous techniques, the Times article should be considered with some caution.

Foam Sclerotherapy is an excellent treatment when used in combination with other endovenous vein treatments, but is rarely the optimal treatment when used alone.