Working Sunday

After a very lazy Saturday, today (Sunday) is another work day.

Our banner advert was in the Mail on Sunday today (see picture) in the Health Section. Unfortunately I have only just noticed the mis-spelling of Venus Closure - rather than VNUS Closure!!!!

However, it is good to have reinforcement out their about our pioneering varicose veins surgery and laser sweat ablation surgery.

Tomorrow, the BBC Online is meant to be publishing a video on our Laser Sweat Ablation video - so the rest of today is going to be updating my personal site - www.MarkWhiteley.co.uk and www.laser-sweat-ablation.co.uk.

However, I will have to stop at 14:30 for the Rugby ....... I hope we play better this week!!!!!

10 year celebrations of new varicose veins surgery

Last night, The Whiteley Clinic hosted a surprise party for me and Judy Holdstock, to celebrate our 10 year anniversary of performing the first keyhole operation for varicose veins in the UK. From that operation has sprung the whole revolution of the new walk-in walk-out vein surgery in the UK.


The whole of The Whiteley Clinic team were there - including Mr Barrie Price, consultant vascular surgeon and Mrs Charmaine Harrison, vascular technologist, and Vicki Smith(http://www.absoluteaesthetics.co.uk/).

They were joined by many guests including:

Steph Cook MBE, olympic gold medalist in Sydney in the modern pentathalon - who used to be a research fellow at The Whiteley Clinic (see picture below)
Professor Brian Allyson and his wife
Mr Bryn Edwards and his wife
Miss Sovra Whitcroft - consultant gynaecologist of The Surrey Park Clinic (http://www.thesurreyparkclinic.co.uk/)
Dr Tony Lopez - consultant radiologist of The Imaging Clinic (http://www.theimagingclinic.co.uk/)
and many other friends.

I was also most touched that my brothers and sister travelled many miles to join me - Kim Jago, David Whiteley and Dr Andrew Whiteley.

Lastly my 3 beautiful daughters also took time away from their exams to join us for our celebrations - Emily, Alice and Lucy.

The evening was a splendid affair with a fine address by Mr Barrie Price, and very funny speech by Dr Tony Lopez and a heartfelt talk from Judy Holdstock who has spent 10 years of her life working with me to perfect our techniques.

The clinic staff put on some wonderful arrangements including a montage of all the press articles about me and The Whiteley Clinic over the last 10 years - and fantastic food was provided by the Michelin Star restaurant - Drakes on the Pond (http://www.drakesonthepond.com/).

A lovely evening finished early enough for me to get ready for a day of operating today and a video for the BBC online this morning about our new Laser Sweat Ablation operation.

To see more photos please click on link:
>http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=94751&id=630710451&l=47b47

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.