The pioneering procedure that banishes painful and unsightly varicose veins for good... it can be life-changing and it takes only 15 minutes

For Michelle Moore, hot summer days were the worst. Since her late 20s, the 58-year-old council worker had been living with painful and disfiguring varicose veins.

The bulging, twisted blood vessels had formed on her legs after Michelle had her third child and had worsened over the years. What started as faint blue lines became knotted ‘golf balls’ on her legs that were painful and itchy.

It would take decades before Michelle finally had a 15-minute procedure that banished the veins for good. So why did it take so long to get to that point?

The condition, which affects one in five adults, occurs when valves inside the blood vessels malfunction, causing blood to pool in the veins rather than return to the heart. Research suggests that most cases are genetic, but can be worsened by pregnancy, as in Michelle’s case.

It can also raise the risk of a life-threatening blood clot. Studies show varicose vein sufferers are 20 per cent more likely to develop deep vein thrombosis, where a blood clot forms in a vein, usually in the leg. This can then travel to the lungs, causing a potentially deadly blockage called a pulmonary embolism.

The varicose veins made Michelle self-conscious – she no longer felt comfortable wearing shorts, even around her husband – but it also left her in agony.

‘It felt like there were elastic bands tight around my legs at all times,’ she says. ‘The veins itched constantly. And when it was hot outside, these symptoms would get even worse. It was like I could feel the pressure building up in my legs.’

However, despite the significant impact the condition had on her life, the NHS refused to help.

‘I went to my GP time and again, but I was always told that there was nothing they could do to help me,’ she says.

Michelle is not alone. The NHS consider varicose veins a ‘cosmetic issue’, meaning it does not affect a patent’s health, and so it concludes that there is no justification to fund treatment for it.

‘I always said it clearly wasn’t a cosmetic issue as I was in pain all the time,’ says Michelle. ‘But it didn’t make any difference.’

Desperate for an answer, Michelle looked for private treatment. Eventually she came across a procedure called foam sclerotherapy, which involves injecting a special foam solution into the faulty veins that seals them – effectively killing them.

Experts say that, while it sounds drastic, it is safe and highly effective. ‘If you have varicose veins, those veins are no longer working properly,’ says Mr Sanjay Patel, vascular consultant at the UK Vein Clinic in Harley Street, central London. ‘So there is no point in keeping them.

‘We inject the foam with a needle and the injections are usually done within 15 minutes, though patients will need to have three sessions to get the best effect.

‘Most patients don’t find it painful, and they can go home the moment it is done.’

The procedure is not cheap, costing about £2,500 per leg. However, for patients such as Michelle, it can be life-changing.

Michelle went for foam sclerotherapy in November. Her improvement was so dramatic she only needed two sessions. ‘They injected my legs about 15 times,’ she says. ‘It didn’t hurt at all. My leg was strapped up for two days, and when I took the bandages off I immediately noticed a difference.’

Over the following months, the varicose veins that Michelle had lived with for decades began to fade. Within four months, they were all but gone – something she never thought would happen.

‘I hadn’t realised how much it had taken over my life until they were gone,’ she says. ‘I’m no longer in pain, there’s no itchiness and I feel confident again – I can even wear shorts.’

Experts say it is a scandal that the NHS does not offer the procedure to more patients.

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Varicose vein patients are offered NHS treatment only if they are classed as being in severe pain or suffer complications. But the criteria are so strict that only 20,000 operations for varicose veins carried out on the NHS every year – for a condition that affects millions.

‘It is unfair and short-sighted that the NHS is so strict about who can get varicose vein treatment,’ says Dr Nisa Aslam, a GP based in Watford, Hertfordshire. ‘I have patients who have received this treatment and had great results.

‘Varicose veins aren’t just a cosmetic issue, it’s often painful to the point where patients aren’t able to work.

‘And it’s normal for varicose vein patients to constantly return to their GP for support, even though there’s very little we can offer.

‘If the NHS offered treatment to more patients, it would improve their lives, boost the economy and free up NHS resources. It seems like an obvious decision.’