Expert: Lauri Ordway - 6/28/2008

Question
I had the closure procedure done last week.  Unlike its advertisement, it was painful, and now, a week later, my leg feels like it has a piece of tape running down the inside of my thigh, and a red line has appeared down my thigh where the doctor poked the needles.  Is this normal, and when will my leg feel normal?

Answer
i am sorry that happened to you, do you know how much tumescent the doc poked into the leg and if it had lidocaine in it?  you can actually get burned from inside out if the vein isn't surrounded with enough of the solution or it could be a rare but known complication.

is the leg swollen? really swollen...like twice as big as the other?
how long did the procedure take?
was t done in the office or the operating room?
where was the insertion site (where is the hole he made to insert the catheter?

some people CAN feel the vein which was, before closure is like a garden hose and after the procedure it is like a guitar string, i have had a few patients who can feel the difference in the vein until the "string" is absorbed...from weeks to months.

the other thing is that the vein may just be clotted and that hurts like crazy, it is actually how the procedure works, it clots off the vein, but when done properly the lidocaine & epinephrine in saline compresses the vein as it is being closed and then we wrap the leg with a compressive wrap that reinforces the vein compression.  

you may have bruising along the inner thigh too, from the pokes.

in our consent form it says:
among the known risks of this procedure are failure to close the saphenous vein, leg swelling, bruising, mild phlebitis (pain, tenderness, and redness) over the treated vein, numbness and tingling in the treated area, and skin burns.

if this is a phlebitis (irritated, clotting of the vein due to decreased bloodflow) it is treated with anti-inflammatories like motrin (usually 600-800 mg (3-4 tabs of the over the counter tablets which are 200mg) 3 times a day for a few days to stop the inflammation and MOIST heat like tub, ht tub, wet warm towel wrap.

but for sure, regardless of all of the above, you must call your surgeon and tell him/her what is going on, you may need an ultrasound to make sure the vein really did close...do you still have the symptoms you had to begin with? the symptoms that sent you to the doc on the first place)? You should let the surgeon see the leg and decide if you need more than moist heat and motrin.

again, sorry this happened to you, I know when you think you are going to be able to polka that same night, and you cant even wear jeans, it is a bummer!

by the way, compresision also helps a lot- like those bike shorts they sell, you can get them for 10$ or less at walmart, target, kmart etc and they should be tight. or support hose, but they realy have to be 20-30 mmm compression and so thats like 2 of the ted sox they give folks after surgery if you dont have support/compression hose, you can get at medical store or some rug stores but the best place is online at www.ameswalker.com, they have great sox and a "clearance" area, the sox now look like opaque tights, not ugly like in years past but again, 20-30mm pressure are the best compression dont bother with less, any of the brands they offer are fine.

answer those questions above for me and maybe I can help more.