"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outdated-procedure-replaced-laser-treatment.html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.

Vogue - July issue - Mark Whiteley to be featured

In the July 2011 edition of Vogue, Mark Whiteley is featured as one of the doctors in an article written by Kate Morris in the Vogue Beauty section.

The article covers several treatments for different conditions - and Mark is included for his treatment of Thread Veins of the legs using Foam Sclerotherapy to treat the underlying cause of the thread veins.

Celebrity varicose vein diary - Eve Cameron in SHE magazine

The beautiful Eve Cameron (beauty editor and author) has written up her experiences of having her varicose veins treated at The Whiteley Clinic in this month's SHE Magazine - June 2009.

In the article - "Vein Hopes" on page 101 and 102 - Eve explains what made her decide to come to The Whiteley Clinic for her vein surgery.

She then goes on to describe the process that she went through - using EVLA (Endo Venous Laser Ablation), TRLOP (TRans Luminal Occlusion of Perforators - invented at The Whiteley Clinic), phlebectomies (removal of the surface veins) and finally sclerotherapy injections under ultrasound guidance.

Eve has published her own before and after photos as part of the article - showing the improvement that she obtained.

In the article, Eve Cameron does point out all of the things that are usually left out - the bits she didn't like and the cost!!!

However, the article is well worth the read as an unbiased diary of someone who has gone through The Whiteley Clinic protocol and seen our results for themselves.

10 year Anniversary of Keyhole Surgery for Varicose Veins in the UK

On the 12th March 1999, Judy Holdstock (chief vascular technologist at The Whiteley Clinic) and I performed the first VNUS Closure operation in the UK.

It was the first pinhole surgery operation for varicose veins in the UK - although the media have now started calling these sorts of operations "Keyhole" surgery operations for varicose veins. By doing this operation, we introduced this new sort of surgery into the UK.

So on Thursday, it will be our 10 year anniversary. In the last 10 years, we have developed the procedures and invented new techniques - such as our TRLOP technique - TRans-Luminal Occlusion of Perforating veins, won prizes and published our research.

Some of our work that should have changed the way veins are treated includes our research - published in July 2007 - that shows that the old "tie and stripping" of veins allows veins to grow back again. When compared to our results using VNUS (radiofrequency) or EVLA (Laser), none of the veins treated over the last 10 years has grown back and only one in 5,000 has opened again. in this one case, we did not stick to our Whiteley Clinic protocol and too little energy was used to close the vein.

Last year, several reports appeared in the press including some videos on TV, sowing some new keyhole surgery being "pioneered" at a London teaching hospital - your can still find one of these videos on the Internet. They show a surgeon using a technique called VNUS Closure FAST to treat a patient with varicose veins under local anaesthetic.

Unfortunately - they did not mention that the first VNUS Closure FAST in the UK was performed by Mark Whiteley and that the surgeon featured had previously undergone training at The Whiteley Clinic and had worked in a Whiteley Clinic franchise in Harley Street in 2008. The "pioneering" surgery had been going on at The Whiteley Clinic (as it still is) rather than the featured teaching hospital.

So today we took an advertorial in The Daily Mail in celebration of our 10 years - and to help people understand that not only were we the first to introduce these techniques to the UK - but we have continued to develop these techniques and introduce others, to make sure we offer our patients the very best results available from vein surgery.