Sherri Edgar suffered for many years with painful varicose veins that hampered her lifestyle until a minimally-invasive procedure provided the perfect solution for her.
Edgar, 57, is a former elementary school teacher. Having two children of her own and spending many years on her feet left her with fairly severe varicose veins.
“They used to burn and sting if I was on my feet for too long cooking or washing dishes,” Edgar said. “They were also painful when I would go for a walk.”
Edgar decided she was tired of dealing with the varicose veins and wanted to seek treatment.
“I had dealt with them since I was in my mid-20s, and I had just had enough,” said Edgar, who lives in Carrollton with her husband, Ted.
Edgar met with Jon Stanford, MD, a board-certified general surgeon with
Carrollton Surgical Group, part of Tanner Medical Group. She made several visits from the fall of 2016 through the summer of 2017 to have all of her varicosities treated.
“I wasn’t nervous,” Edgar said. “I was just excited to finally be doing something about it.”
Veins return blood to your heart from the rest of your body.
Varicose veins occur when blood pools in veins, causing them to enlarge and sometimes appear bulging and blue. The issue is typically most acute in the legs, where the veins must work against gravity to return blood to the heart.
“Varicose veins can appear unsightly, but they’re not simply a cosmetic problem,” said Dr. Stanford. “They’re a vascular problem, prohibiting your veins from returning oxygen-depleted blood to your heart. They can lead to sores, leg pain, color changes to the skin and more.”
The first stage of her treatment involved cauterizing the varicose veins while her legs were numbed with a local anesthetic.
“Dr. Stanford and the nurses were wonderful to work with because they explained what they were going to do every step of the way,” Edgar said.
The second step involved removing some of the varicose veins from her leg through tiny incisions just above her ankle, with a local anesthetic used to control pain. This procedure was performed on each leg, on different days to allow each leg to heal.
The entire course of treatment was available in the surgeon’s office.
“My recovery was easy and I have no scars anywhere, but the most important thing is that I don’t have any varicose veins,” said Edgar.
Everything was healed completely in about a week, she said.
Edgar said now it’s a lot easier to exercise and she feels much better about wearing shorts. It has made a positive impact on her lifestyle since she enjoys being outdoors and gardening.
“The treatment of varicose veins and their symptoms continue to change for the better,” said Dr. Stanford. “The once-common procedure known as ‘stripping’ has been replaced for much less invasive vein closure procedures. Cautery or laser closure of larger veins under local anesthetic injections is the preferred mode of treatment, but even these procedures may eventually become obsolete. At Carrollton Surgical Group, we now offer a newer vein treatment that eradicates larger varicose veins with surgical glue. The procedure doesn’t require local anesthesia, and for the patient this means no more needle sticks except for the placement of one small IV.
“Varicose veins aren’t something you have to live with,” said Dr. Stanford. “Discuss them with your doctor and ask what you can do to start treatment now.”