Back from the appointment at the hospital with surgeon Verweij. He did a duplex test (some echo-like check) and told me that there's nothing wrong with the deeper veins in my leg and that the bulge that's near my ankle (plus the bulge below my ankle) are the result of one branch having faulty valves and leaking stuff that should be going upward (is actually pushed upward) into the outer veins that then expand (since they can't handle such pressure) and show on the outside of the leg. According to mister Verweij fixing this is a very simple procedure. As he put it 'klem, klem, touwtje, touwtje' (clasp, clasp, string, string), meaning that the faulty branch will be shut completely. Since you have thousands of little blood-vessels this should not be a big problem for the outer part of the leg and the swollen bit should shrink back to normal again.

The only downside of the simple procedure is that, in order to get to the problematic vein, a 3 cm deep incision should be made and for that I either need an anesthetic or an epidural because a local sedation won't be enough. Laser or injection is not an option with this kind of faulty vein (600 people per year get those, only 50 get real surgery with the cutting) However, before someone is going to cut into me I'm scheduled for an extensive test of the deeper veins next Monday morning. That way we can check if there is really nothing wrong with the deeper veins (that don't show completely on the hand-held duplex test machine). This is an extra check because I have been told that I had trombosis when I was 1,5 years old. There's no evidence of that on the handheld-duplex thingy, but if there is something wrong and the 'standard procedure' does not have the desired result, it would be a shame. Better save than sorry. On Wednesday I'll have the talk about what the test results of Monday mean for any further procedures. (Bad stuff: this will burn through my 'eigen risico'. Very good stuff: it seems to be fixable!)

This doctor was way more comprehensible than the one that I got my first appointment with. That was with the private clinic Dermalink. You can get an appointment there sooner (but I had to wait more than 30 minutes before I got to see the doctor himself, at the hospital today I was let in even earlier than my appointment time) but they do no 'cutting'. They have laser options and that's about it. That guy didn't tell what he was looking at on the machine (white and black stuff with blue and red blotches). He left the impression that he didn't have much structure in what he was doing and he failed to explain to me what exactly was wrong. Well, he did explain stuff, but that was not anywhere near what this last doctor said! And he only gave the 'option' of lifelong supporting stockings. Not what you want to hear if you're only 31 years old!

Doctor Verweij explained that the black stuff on the screen were veins, that blue is good (blood going in the right direction) and that red is bad (blood flowing in the wrong direction). He could see that the problem is in one specific area, and thus fixable. It's not just 'all veins are damaged, so cutting stuff away would only make it worse' like the first doctor said. How on earth could two consults give such different results!?

On Wednesday I'll ask what the risks are of doing the surgery or leaving things as they are, assuming that nothing is wrong with the deeper veins. It's not just that the bulge on my leg is ugly, but it is also painful or itchy at some times. Last time I did a big skating trip it took 2 days for my leg to stop hurting. So removing it would be a good idea, as long as the removal does not bring along any other (bigger) risks/problems. And if there are indeed problems with the deeper veins I also want to know what my options or risks are.

After the consult on Wednesday I'll call Dermalink to tell them, in nice wording, that they suck and that I won't be coming back. He asked me to call 4 months after the appointment to tell how the stocking was working out for me.