Hi. I have varicose veins that are pretty big and bulging in both of my legs, i'm only 18 but I know they can appear at any age. I would just like to know how people live/cope with them as I do not want any surgery/procedure to have them removed. I exercise daily now, eat plenty of fruit/veg & drink enough water daily and also elevate my legs often. I would just like to hear other peoples stories of living with them and how long (how many years you've dealt with them) and any tips on how to keep them under control. Any comments would be greatly appreciated but please don't put me off not having the surgery I would just like reassuring/positive advice please .
There are some modern procedures for getting rid of varicose veins you may think about in the future either using laser or radio frequency, also foam sclerotherapy, all non invasive. I had radio frequency, it took twenty minutes for the procedure under local anaesthetic and I could have driven home afterwards. The vein is not actually removed it is just blocked off.
There are a couple of things to take away immediately. The first thing is that you have large varicose veins at the age of 18. In my 20+ years of experience in the diagnosis and treatment of veins there is only one reason you would have this condition. That reason is iliac vein compression. You may find information on Google, however they only talk about May-Thurner (iliac vein compression at the procimal left CIV). You can have iliac vein compression in a number of areas including on the right. A good resource is
You need an iliac vein duplex ultrasound and unfortunately that is harder to find and is very technologist dependent.
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