Gerald's Journey to Healthy Legs After Vein Treatment
Gerald’s leg symptoms consisted of excessive swelling in the left leg and foot, skin discoloration, heaviness, leg fatigue, painful stabbing sensations, and active open ulcers.
These symptoms were very debilitating, forcing him to use a walker or wheelchair. His left leg and foot were so swollen, that he could no longer wear normal pants or shoes. He was told that nothing could be done to help him.
He also suffered from other conditions including type II diabetes, mild peripheral vascular disease, diabetic neuropathy, mild arthritis, and obesity. Gerald also had two prior DVTs (blood clots) and subsequently had a greenfield filter placed to help prevent a pulmonary embolism.
Gerald had pervious vein stripping surgeries with no symptom improvement and had been to three different vascular clinics.
In 2006, Gerald’s family physician sent him to come see us at our Allure Medical in our Shelby Township location. We performed an ultrasound mapping of his left leg, where we could see his old blood clots, however, they were not obstructing blood flow. It was clear that he had previous unsuccessful vein stripping surgeries because he had developed large, incompetent perforating veins that connected the relatively healthy veins in his calf muscles to the unhealthy residual veins in his skin.
At the time, the FDA approved an outpatient procedure called endovenous ablation for the treatment of chronic venous insufficiency. This treatment was backed by extensive research and studies that showed addressing perforating veins with endovenous ablation led to the rapid healing of ulcerations.
It was important that we took our time treating Gerald’s condition because of his extensive history of blood clots. We performed a series of outpatient procedures over the span of a few months to manage his incompetent perforating veins.
After just 5 months, Gerald noticed his leg shrinking down to normal size. His ulcers were rapidly healing, and he was able to walk unaided for the first time in years.
We followed Gerald for about a year and saw no recurrence of either the ulcers, the perforating veins, or any of his previous symptoms. During that time, his leg continued to shrink and became even healthier.
Donna, Gerald’s wife, reported that he had gone from using a wheelchair/walker to walking the neighborhood unaided on a daily basis.
“Gerald is constantly active — I can’t keep him inside the house anymore. He’s a different man,” Donna said.
11 years later, we had the pleasure of catching up with Gerald when he brought his daughter in to see us. Her symptoms were not quite as advanced as his were, but nonetheless, he recognized the same pattern happening to her legs.
Gerald informed us that even 11 years after his treatment, he is still able to sleep through the night without leg cramps and he is off any pain pills. Because of his hip arthritis, he does use a cane from time to time but otherwise can walk completely unaided.
