South Texas Vein Doctors Solve Woman’s Chronic Vein Disease

Q: Does chronic vein disease run in your family?

A: You bet it does! I remember my mother’s calves. They were more bulbous towards the knee and much thinner near the ankles. My dad had venous ulcers. I remember both being quite miserable.

Q: When did you notice you too were suffering with chronic vein disease?

A: For the longest time, I didn’t know I had vein chronic disease. I didn’t ever think that because my parents had problems with their legs that I would too. In the early 2000s, I had blood clots in my leg. I underwent lots of testing. My blood wasn’t thinning properly. I also injured my leg at that time.

Then, about three years ago, it looked like I had a tumor on my leg (where the injury had occurred). I went to see a dermatologist who diagnosed it as cellulitis. I was given potent antibiotics to treat it.

There was no change. So, the dermatologist changed the dosage and told me that if nothing happens, I’d have to see an infectious disease doctor and have a biopsy done.

Q: Did the increased dosage of antibiotics help?

A: No. But it was interesting when I went to see a podiatrist for a foot problem I was having and he looked at my leg and said, “You don’t have cellulitis. This is something else.” So, the mystery continued.

Then late last year I noticed a hardening on my right leg where I had hit it over 10 years earlier. It didn’t heal. It became very hard, very itchy. It oozed. My legs were achy, hurt and would swell. The skin became dry, flaky. I wanted to scratch and scratch.

I knew I needed to see a doctor but didn’t know which one. My best friend was having issues with her legs too. It just so happens that her sister-in-law was a receptionist at StrideCare. She told my friend and I to come in for a vein consultation. When you’ve tried and tried to find relief, it couldn’t hurt, right? So, I did.

Q: Were you diagnosed with vein disease?

A: Yes! Dr. Hamilton was able to diagnose my problem right on the spot. I had venous dermatitis and lipodermatosclerosis. Both are advanced forms of vein disease. Basically, chronic vein disease at its almost worst.

At my vein consultation, we discussed my family history. I learned that when one parent has chronic vein disease you have a 50% chance of developing it. When two have it, that chance shoots up to 90%. Add those odds to me being a woman (one in three women develop vein disease) and previous pregnancies—I was a walking target for developing chronic vein disease! Right then and there, I thought to myself, “This is going to stop with me. I don’t want my kids to get like this.”

We also discussed all the misdiagnoses. Dr. Hamilton said that if I had had a biopsy done, as suggested by the dermatologist, I would’ve really damaged my leg, opening it up for infection.

I left that first appointment so excited that finally this embarrassing, debilitating, 24/7 situation might be over soon!

Q: Did you have any pre-existing medical conditions you were worried might interfere with treatment?

A: I’ve been on Coumadin for nearly 13 years—since I had the blood clot issue—so I was concerned I’d have to go off of it before getting treated. Dr. Hamilton explained that because vein treatments are minimally invasive and done on an outpatient basis, I wouldn’t have to go off Coumadin at all. That was a huge relief. That and the fact that StrideCare treats people who are on Coumadin all the time.