Surgery in Poland (varicose veins)...anyone with experience/advice?

I'm thinking of coming to Poland for surgery on varicose veins (yup, reached that age!) as the NHS in UK say my condition is not serious enough for them to consider operating and if it was the waiting list would be nearly a year even if I was accepted.

So, has anyone on PF had experience of surgery, hospitals etc. in Poland, particularly if you came specifically to Poland for treatment....and do you have any advice? My preferred location would be Krakow as my g/f is from that region. Thank you.

the nhs in uk must really be fooked.

my varicose have been slowly decaying and last november i went to my gp. he in turn set the wheels in motion and eventually had surgery mid may of this year.

if there is anything you want to know about the procedure or afterwards then let me know.

My husband is wondering about starting this whole process :) He's been for a medical opinion so is now waiting to hear about options ...

the only realistic option is to cut 'em out...

and ripping them out still takes weeks in bed? (or am I mis-remembering 1970s NHS ?)

No need to go to poland mate. Have a look at this website [benenden.org.uk]
It's a trust rather than private medical insurance and offers affordable health cover for things such at varicose veins and minor operations. The only hurdle / snag being that if you join you can not claim for the first few months. Have not checked but think it is 3 or 6 months.

Had my left leg varicose veins removed last year. Bebenden were great. Within 5 weeks of phoning them up they had me into thier london clinic so the surgeon could take a look then straight into hospital for the operation. Went in on a Thursday morning. Operation was same day and back home by friday morning, and only requred 5 days off work for recovery. First class all went very well. In three weeks I go in to have my other leg done.

The varicose veins are a pain in the arse. On both legs they went from nothing to stretching from ankle to top of leg ( groin area). Surgeon was saying they are not symptomatic of anything that is seriously wrong, so i would not worry to much.

Varicose veins can be painful when you stand up for a long time.

If you were to see mine you would think they are painful as look terrible ( especially for somone of my age!) But they not painful at all. One of the causes though is staning up for to long.

Thanks fall or the responses.


Thanks KS. I assume you had them 'stripped' or cut out; can I ask why you chose surgery as opposed to other less intrusive methods? And yes, it would be good to get some details of everything: time in hospital, time off work, appearance afterwards, any after effects etc. I'd appreciate that a lot.


I'd also like to hear what route your husband chooses: where he chooses to have it done, whether by traditional surgery or other means etc and any other useful info you may find. Thanks cjj.


Thank you Mark, I have checked out this link and it sounds promising. Have signed up and will see what happens as hopefully waiting another 6 months won't make a huge difference. Didn't realise such organisations exist.

Less invasive methods are often only enough for small varicose veins, or branches of major superficial veins.

Even with invasive surgery you can usually leave hospital the same day or the day after. And then go for check-up and removal of sutures.

/medical student

If you have a problem with varicose veins you should stop eating foods with hydrogenated fats.. and lessen use white wheat products.

there are other natural methods to deal with this. look up on the web, try a search for natuarl healing varicose veins.

because whatever is causing your legs to do that, it is probably also affecting your heart and surgery will not address that.

I know hydrogenated fats are a big culprit. Crisco is notorious.

I spoke to the surgeon after my operation.He said the cause was ( explained in my none medical vocabulary !!) . That basically veins have valves, these get blocked which causes the vein to die due to lack of oxygen. Once dead they expand to over 100 / 150 size thier width and float to top of the skin / surface hence making them look worse than what they really are.

He went on to say that it was nothing to do with diet / lifestyle etc

i have had bruises on my leg for 4-5 years due to the lack of circulation in my leg, so my gp advised surgery, the other options including natural healing were temporary and didnt really solve the problem but hide it. but beware, the flow is directed down another vein, so in all probablility, 20-40 years down the track they will be back.

it is the simplest operation...i went under around 9.30am and came out around 11.30pm. the operation was only an hour or so and the rest of the hour was recovery. note this is the aussie system, i did have to get into the hospital by 6.30am so there was a lot of waiting. i was eventually discharged between 1pm and 1.30pm.

i could walk (and was encouraged to do so) straight after the surgery. your leg is mummified so walking is a tad difficult.

a week later i went to get the bandages cut off, doctor inspected the leg and said all was okay. there are clots of blood along your leg that take a bit of massage, eventually they disappear.

today, no more veins my still 1-2 incision points where they removed the veins all down my leg that will eventually disappear.

all in all i took a week and a half off, but i also had major sick leave to utilise so had 2-3 days extra recovery.

if i have forgotten anything or you need anything else then let me know.


my gp and surgeon also said it had nothing to do with diet/lifestyle and that it was indeed genetic. in my case, my dad had them and his dad had them.

they explained it as most "ordinary people" have say 10 veins in their legs to carry blood from my groin to my foot and i only had 4-5 veins. therefore, to accomodate all the blood the veins would expand.

Dont do it I have had surgery in a hospital in Gdania. I would call the surgeon a Butcher not a doctor and they dont like to use anaesthetic.

DONT DO IT

Macduff !
You mean vein surgery ? or any surgery at all? We're in Trojmiasto too so quite interested in your reply :)

Update: serious thought is being given to Foam Sclerotherapy ... Some "clinic in Gdansk" is being visited this evening to chat about the procedure.

I'd be interested to hear any practical experiences - as usual the internet supplies a wide range of opinion on the subject :)

/cjj

Hi cjj, how did your visit go? Has it helped you come to a decision? Positive and negative feelings, cost and any other details etc. would be appreciated. Regards.

Clinic surgeon said no to the foam scl. At least one of the veins is very wide so that technique was unsuitable. They will be stripped out - tried and tested technique.

Surgeon says he has a cancellation this weekend so at the moment we're aiming for that.
I've no clear idea of costs because we've gone through medicover -- costs then get a little fuzzier as do waiting lists. Plus, this is Mr cjj we're talking about so my info. is second hand and we haven't discussed the $s (yet).

Procedure done on Saturday, victim up and walking around the next day - can go back to sedentary job on Monday (with some care about how the leg is kept elevated etc during the working day) ...

Anyone had any dealings with clinics in Sopot? I saw one in the Gdansk 'free' newspaper last week (Metro) - forgot to note either the name or any contact number ... rather surprised to see it in the small ads.

cjj

Something like that. And the dilation is usually use to decreased blood circulation because the muscles in the lower limbs don't press correctly on the vessels, to pump up the blood. That's why varicose veins usually occur in people who sit down a lot and don't use their lower limb muscles.