Post-Treatment Care for Varicose Veins: Essential Aftercare Tips for Faster Recovery
- Mr. Devaraj
- Nov 7
- 4 min read
Getting on your feet; Treatment Care
You are advised to go on a walk for at least 10 minutes immediately following treatment. We advise that you do not drive yourself home; you will be fine to drive the next day.
To facilitate your recovery, it is advised that you walk at least 20 minutes at a time, for 4-5 times daily and avoid sitting or standing in one position for more than 2 hours.
Other normal activity can be resumed immediately. Exercise should be guided by how your legs feel.
The only exercise we do not recommend is horse riding, running and heavy weightlifting for at least 4 weeks post-treatment. Furthermore, Long haul flights (over 4 hours) are to be avoided for 4 weeks.
Wearing your stockings
Compression stocking/s is to be worn continuously for 1 week. The stocking is hypoallergenic. Please do not stand up without the stocking on, yet ensure you don’t pull the stocking up too high on your leg. This can cause the stocking to drag down on your skin and result in a rash or small blisters. This is often mistaken as an allergic reaction to the stocking. Sit the top of the stocking lower down on your leg. If the soreness persists, try turning the stocking top down or placing gauze dressing in between elastic and the skin.
If the stocking keeps falling, it may be because these is residue on the stocking top (soap residue or skin cells). Clean the top of the stocking and see if this helps. If not, try putting a pair of tights/sports skins over the top or wrap a piece of gauze around the top to hold them up.
If the stocking is too tight you may develop swelling Of the foot with numbness or a blue discoloration of the toes. These symptoms would normally develop 2-4 hours after the stocking has been fitted.Should you develop discomfort, swelling or numbness of your foot or toes try the simple exercises of-pointing your toes to the floor and circling your foot with the toes pointed. If discomfort persists, take your stocking off and immediately lie down with your leg elevated on 2 pillows. If your symptoms are resolved, refit the stocking, if not contact us or seek immediate medical attention.
Shower/Bathing
If you have some gauze dressing on your legs, this can be removed after 24 hours. You have 2 options regarding showering whilst wearing the stockings. The method you choose will not impact the results of the treatment. Please choose what suits you best.
Option 1: (preferred) have a shower with stocking on. please ensure no soap residue is left on the top of the stocking as this may cause them to fall down. If so, wipethe top down and they should stay up again. After the shower, use a hair dryer to dry the wet stocking. This option avoids the need for removing and reapplying the stockings.
Option 2: Strip wash. Avoiding the need to remove and reapply your stockings. Once the stockings have been removed after 7 days, you may have a bath.
How will my leg look when the stocking comes off?
Do not worry if your veins look little different at this stage. Remember this is normally a staged procedure; dealing first with the cause and later at follow up with the actual varicose veins that you can see. It is not uncommon to notice some significant bruising, redness and swelling when you first remove the stocking. This can last for 8 weeks or longer depending on the treatment.
It is common to feel a hard chord under the skin for a few weeks where the vein has been heated. If you had Foam Sclerotherapy alongside radiofrequency ablation (RFA), the veins that have been injected should start to feel hard and lumpy; this may last for a few months until your body reabsorbs them. At this time in the procedure the veins can often look worse than they did at the start. Do not be alarmed by this!
If the veins are hard and lumpy this indicates the treatment has worked and they will stay like this for some time (up to a few months). If they remain soft, it is likely you’ll require a further session of injections.
Residual varicosities may remain in 10% to 20% of people after RFA treatment and can be treated with top up foam sclerotherapy in outpatient clinic. Most insurance policies cover this top up treatment, however, if you are self-payer, this may incur additional cost.
Post Treatment Symptoms
Localised Pain & Discomfort
Post-treatment symptoms vary considerably from patient to patient. It is common to experience some degree of the following post-treatment: ‘tightening’ pain, tenderness, bruising, cramping and swelling. If you do experience discomfort, it usually starts around 5-7 days after treatment but can occur immediately.
We advise that you take some anti-inflammatory painkillers (such as ibuprofen 400mg or other simple analgesics with which you are familiar e.g. Paracetamol) regularly over this period; these should only be taken with food. Please ensure you do not have any contraindications to the painkiller and follow their instructions.
DVT & PE – Rare but Serious Complications
A blood clot forming in the deep veins of the leg (Deep Vein Thrombosis, DVT) results in swelling of the leg, pain, warmth, redness and tenderness in the calf. If you are experiencing pain, swelling or redness generalised over the whole calf or whole leg, this is rather unusual after our treatments and could indicate a DVT, especially if also accompanied by generalized hot feeling of the leg and tenderness of your calf.
A DVT can result in a blood clot passing to the lungs which Is called a pulmonary embolus (PE). This can be serious and is very exceptionally fatal. Symptoms of a PE include breathlessness, chest pain and coughing up blood.
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