Via Rodolfo Lanciani, 69 - 00162 Roma

SURGERY: BEYOND

  1. THE FIRST WEEK AFTER SURGERY
  2. THE FIRST MONTH AFTER SURGERY
  3. AFTER THE FIRST MONTH

 

THE FIRST WEEK AFTER SURGERY

In the days following the surgery is extremely healthy walking from one to two kilometers in the morning and the same in the afternoon, to promote blood circulation, prevent phlebitis, edema and bruising. Physical activity allows the patient to feel less pain and recuperate as quickly as possible, contrary to current ideas and practices.
On the contrary, trampling (cooking, ironing, etc …) or sitting (especially for travel by car or plane) are to be avoided because that favors blood stasis in the legs which can cause oedema.

Although intense efforts should be avoided during the first week.

When you rest, you should keep your legs a little raised, especially in bed.

It is possible to drive the day after the surgery.

You will keep stocking and elastic bandage (worn before discharge) intervention until the following morning: so the first night will keep them during the entire night. Then, you simply wear the stocking during the day for 2 – 8 days according to the importance of the intervention.

You don’t need dressings.

You can take a shower since the second postoperative day, every morning, with the usual soap, taking care not to rub the operated leg. The steril-strips we use resist quite well to water.

Overall you will have little discomfort after surgery, all your usual activities will be possible without excess.

After 8 to 10 days, you will see the surgeon to remove the sterile-strips painlessly.

back to the top

THE FIRST MONTH AFTER SURGERY

Generally, the work can be resumed a few days after the intervention, from one week to ten days, or sooner, depending on the importance of the intervention, the type of work and your needs.
You can resume gentle exercise (jogging moderate, gymnastics, cycling, swimming) after a dozen days. You have to wait three weeks to a month for the most intense sports.

Walking is always a very healthy and highly recommended activity, even after the first postoperative month.

The surgeon will have prescribed to you, in the medical check of the eighth postoperative day, a cream (which improves blood circulation), to pass on your operated legs once or twice a day.

You no longer need to wear elastic stockings, except in case of long journeys or prolonged standing.

Sun exposure of micro-scars in the first month is absolutely to avoid because they can keep a final pigmentation. In summer it is recommended to apply a sunscreen with sunblock on the scars.

At the end of the month, the surgeon will examine you to evaluate the early results. He will prescribe you a treatment with “venotonic” drugs (tablets or sachets that improve blood circulation) to be taken for three months.

The surgeon will also prescribe light and confortable “support stockings”, that you should regularly wear in situations that cause distress to the venous circulation.

 

THE FIRST MONTH AFTER SURGERY

Summary table of post operative consequences during the first month

Summary table of post operative consequences during the first month

 

Walk Stockings Shower Driving  Sport Work
Day of intervention ++ Stocking + elastic bandage No No No No
1° post operative day +++ Stocking during the day No Possible No No
2° post operative day ++++ Stocking during the day Yes Yes No Possible
 3° to 8° post operative day ++++ Stocking during the day Yes Yes No Possible
8° day to 1° post operative month ++++ No more stocking Yes Yes Possible Possible

 

THEREFORE…

The existence of varicose veins expresses a weakness of the superficial venous network. The purpose of the intervention is to remove the diseased veins, annoying, painful and unaesthetic varicose veins, but does not settle the problem of the fragility of the remaining venous system.
That’s why it is very important to contrast the factors involving varicose veins, by medical checks, medical treatment with venotonic drugs of limited duration, light elastic stockings to wear on specific occasions, and especially lifestyle.

An Echo-doppler examination is usually performed two months after surgery.

A consultation of control is recommended once a year to monitor and maintain the result.
The varicose disease tends to evolve, affecting other veins previously healthy, depending on several factors (severity of varicose veins at the beginning, heredity, lifestyle, habits …).

If follow-up care is regular and strict, you can always treat varicose recurrences early, with a light treatment (sclerotherapy or removal of small veins) and with good satisfaction in terms of medical, aesthetic and functional results.
On the contrary if we neglect the control, varicose recurrences should be treated with a heavier surgical procedure, whose results could not be perfect anymore.