Dear Sarah, Thank you very much for your email. What you are describing is in fact found quite a lot in women having pregnancies. Unfortunately many doctors and nurses tell patients with your problem that "nothing can be done about this". However, we have been successfully treating this co...

Hi Becki, You do not have to wait for veins become visible before seeing a doctor. 50% of people who suffer from vein problems never see a vein on the surface at all. This is one of the reasons why people will get leg ulcers are often told they are curable - they do have varicose veins but just not ...

Dear Juliet, Your sister will need to have a scan to find out whether these are varicose veins and if they are coming from the pelvis. It would be sensible for her to have this before getting pregnant again to make sure they don't come back with a vengeance and subsequent pregnancies. Varicose veins...

Dear Ruth, Yes it is highly likely that you have got varicose veins coming from the pelvis. There is usually little you can do until you have had your child. When you saw them with your last pregnancy, they didn't really disappear afterwards, they just couldn't be seen from the surface. As such, unt...

Dear Rebecca, Pain after childbirth in one area in the upper groin is more likely to be a hernia or muscle strain. Pelvic congestion syndrome is usually a more "general" ache in the pelvis. If you can put one finger on the area of pain, it is more likely to be related to the muscle wall. S...

Hi Emily, Basically you need to have a duplex ultrasound of your leg veins and your pelvic veins. These need to be carried out in a specialist unit - especially the pelvic veins as they are not often scanned for reflux in gynae clinics or vein clinics. Once we know the results of these 2 tests then ...

Pelvic Congestion Syndrome is often talked about - but not often diagnosed!! It is due to large varicose veins in the pelvis that cannot be seen on the outside. Men have the same thing - but as their testicles are on the outside, the veins can be seen in the scrotum as "varicoceles". When ...

Hi Alice, In answer to the first question - yes you can often tell if your varicose veins are related to pelvic veins - you will see veins high up on the inside of the leg near the vulva or the veins runs across the back of the thigh - see the photos on: http://www.vulval-varicose-veins.co.uk and ht...

1 in 5 women (20%) who have had children and have leg varicose veins have varicose veins of their vulva and vagina feeding into the leg varicose veins. These come from varicose veins in the pelvis and need to be treated before the leg varicose veins to get good long term results. Varicose veins of t...