37 Year Old Mum of 2 with Varicose Veins That I've Had for 20 Yrs (Good Results but Not Sure It's Worth the Pain)

I am sharing my experience as I wasn't expecting the procedure to be painful after it was done and unfortunately it is. I am no stranger to pain (having had 2 babies without painkillers!) but had I known the discomfort, I would probably have avoided the procedure. The results are good (in fact, they are better than expected and I have yet to have foam sclerotherapy sessions which target the visible veins, so they will improve further) but the pain on night 2 and night 5 was pretty unbearable, particularly the former. More specifically, on the 2nd night, my compression tight was very uncomfortable and had cut the flow of blood so my feet were swollen. This wasn't the procedure's fault but I was up all night very uncomfortable. The inner thigh was also v swollen and tender and painful. There is pain relating to the actual procedure as a tube is passed up across the entire area, in my case fro my knee to my groin and 4-5 'holes' were made to help the Dr pull the tube up. You are then lasered and the pain is more of a warm tender sensation that eventually turns into a tightness following the procedure. The tightness to the thigh caused limping for approx 2-4 days and lasted about 2 weeks in my case. There was nothing I could do really to ease the pain other than to remove the stocking when I was lying down (standing is v dangerous, it cause DVT!) I felt so stupid causing myself pain for something aesthetic. I have no doubt the medical level was good and I have mixed feelings about the Dr in terms of personality but no one really warns you of the side effects until you get a 'lovely' leaflet following the procedure about the pain to expect so I thought I would share before you commit. Having said the above, I am for the 1st time in years wearing shorts and not feeling like I have a leg belonging to an alien.