Welcome to the Thread Veins Website
It is estimated that one in four women, and an unknown number of men, suffer from thread veins of the legs. Thread veins of the legs are often called "spider veins", "broken capillaries", "broken veins" or "venous flares".
Although in the past many people have gone to beauty clinics or cosmetic clinics for the treatment of thread veins of the legs, research performed in 2001 has shown that the majority of people with leg thread veins actually have underlying vein problems. These can either be minor or major varicose veins, very often not visible from the surface, and cannot be found without the aid of a specialised duplex ultrasound scan of the legs.
It is possible to use a hand-held Doppler machine to see if there is any evidence of underlying varicose veins. Unfortunately, although the hand-held Doppler is easier to use and cheaper than the specialised duplex ultrasound scan, it is far less accurate as it does not provide a picture of what is being examined. Therefore, a hand held Doppler is adequate to suggest there may be underlying varicose veins, causing the thread veins in the legs, but it is nowhere near accurate enough to say that there definitely aren't. As such, although better than nothing, a hand-held Doppler is of limited value.
At The Whiteley Clinic, all patients presenting with thread veins of their legs are offered a specialised duplex ultrasound scan performed by one of our specialist vascular technologists. This scan is able to examine every vein in the leg from the deep veins right the way through to the thread veins of the skin. Using this machine, our specialist vascular technologists can see exactly the causes of the thread veins in the leg and are able to map out the size and distribution of any hidden varicose veins.
Using this information, the vein experts at The Whiteley Clinic are able to suggest the very best treatments, or sequence of treatments, to both get rid of the thread veins from the legs as well as reducing the risk of other thread veins returning in the future.
The Thread Veins website is written by the experts at The Whiteley Clinic.
This site has been developed to incorporate many active graphics and audio clips to help you understand what we know about thread veins and why they appear. The videos and pictures may take a little time to load but are worth waiting for, as they will answer many of your questions.
This information is intended to be educational so, if you suffer from Thread Veins, it will help you to understand what your doctor means when they explain your condition and treatment to you.
After the introduction and explanation of the basics, this site will show you the latest things available in the world of Thread Veins and the areas that our team is working on in Guildford, Surrey and in Harley Street, London.
We also run courses for Doctors, Nurses and Therapists to teach them how to assess and treat Thread Veins of the legs: see www.Thread-Vein-Courses.co.uk
