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outdated-procedure-replaced-laser-treatment.html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