Over recent years several new interventional radiological (minimally invasive ultrasound guided) techniques have been developed to replace surgery for this common problem and provide an effective treatment for all veins even those which are apparently minor and causing cosmetic problems only for which many patients are unwilling to have an operation. There are three main techniques (foam sclerotherapy, VNUS Closure® and laser ablation) all of which are producing very encouraging results even for difficult recurrent varicose veins. Varicose veins also occur in other unusual sites . In the scrotum for example they cause a “bag of worms” swelling called a varicocoele which can be painful and reduce fertility and in the female pelvis they are responsible for much undiagnosed pelvic pain as well as obvious vulval and clitoral varices. Both these types of varices can be easily treated by an outpatient technique called embolisation.