Case Study: Antonia

When did Antonia develop thread veins and how did they affect her?

Interiors specialist and blogger Antonia Ludden, also known as Tidylife, from Sale in Manchester, recalls how she used to hide her unsightly thread veins with fake tan and camouflage makeup before discovering Veincentre.

Antonia, who is the author of the popular blog ‘Tidy Away Today’, noticed how her thread veins were getting worse after her third pregnancy but at the time hoped they would go away.

Antonia said: “After my third pregnancy they sprang up all over my legs. I feel like that pregnancy hit me harder than the previous two. I was a bit older by then (37) with a six year old and a two year old running around. My ankles and feet swelled too by the time I was full term, which I hadn’t experienced before. It was the strangest thing to look at my feet and not recognise them! I was quite concerned about all the leg veins and spoke to my GP who assured me that most of them would go after the baby was born. A lot of them did too, but I was left with some thread vein clusters on my thigh and calf. I feel like the bigger varicose veins behind my knee came on more with age.”

What gave Antonia the push to seek treatment?

With her children now aged 21, 17 and 14, Antonia was tired of having to constantly hide her thread veins and avoiding shorts and dresses. She decided to go to Veincentre in Manchester city centre to get advice on what could be done and hasn’t looked back since.

How was the treatment process for Antonia?

Antonia attended the Manchester clinic and saw Dr Ananth Krishnan, Consultant Interventional Radiologist, who carried out a colour duplex ultrasound scan to find out what was going on inside Antonia’s veins and establish the most suitable treatment for her.

The scan confirmed that Antonia had varicose veins and thread veins, with the most suitable treatment combination being foam sclerotherapy and microsclerotherapy.

Antonia likened the sclerotherapy treatment to being like “nipping yourself while shaving” and wishes she’d done it years ago and said: “It’s funny that during the treatment you can literally see some veins disappearing in an instant! However, a lot of them take a few weeks to fully disappear. You’ll go through different stages for example bruising and there may be a bit of tenderness – also sometimes there can be brownish skin staining. I have had a little of that where there was a larger varicose vein behind one knee, but I can see that is fading away now. I am very happy and grateful to Veincentre Manchester for taking good care of me and putting me at ease throughout the whole process.

What advice would Antonia give to people looking into treatment?

When asked what she’d say to other people who are hiding their varicose veins and thread veins, Antonia said: “I would say look into it, think about going for a consultation with your local Veincentre. It’s very thorough and you can ask all the questions you may have. Using ultrasound they can discover the underlying causes of your veins and discuss treatment options with you. I had a vague knowledge of sclerotherapy treatment being for thread veins, but not enough to realise what a great solution it was to an issue that has bothered me for years.”

Antonia wrote all about her consultation and treatment over on her blog which you can read if you would like to hear more about her journey. Click to read part 1 and part 2.

You can follow Antonia over on her social media platforms: Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.