Earlier this week we had an enquiry from a patient who lives very long distance away
and she enquired whether I would see her and treat her in one visit.
Now from a strict medical point of view there is no particular reason why you couldn't see
and treat somebody in one visit.
Treatments are local anaesthetic they are extremely safe.
Serious complications are very rare and many specialists see no problem with seeing and
treating it one visit.
Now I have no problem with that.
I don't think it's wrong.
I know many very well respected and highly regarded vein specialists who have quite a
significant part of their practice comprising people that they see and treat in one visit.
But quite a while ago I made the decision that I would not see and treat people in one
visit.
And I will tell you the reasons why.
The 1st is I like to have a very thorough consultation with the patient to understand
their requirements in detail.
I need to get to know them a little bit and I need to know exactly what they are trying
to achieve.
It is unusual but rarely I do advise people not to have any treatment whatsoever.
Either because their concerns about their condition progressing to something serious
are unfounded or perhaps their symptoms are not due their veins and that treating their
veins is very unlikely to lead to their legs feeling better - there is other problem that
I have identified.
Or I might form the opinion that the improvement in the appearance and the cosmetic outcome
that they are trying to achieve is very hard to deliver.
And that they are very unlikely to get the improvement in the appearance of their legs
that they want.
So I think the consultation is extremely important and that takes time.
I like to do a very thorough physical examination and a duplex ultrasound scan.
And then on that basis I can formulate treatment plan for the patient.
I need to discuss this in detail there is often more than one treatment option and often
each of them has more than one pro or con.
They all have risks and they all have advantages and this needs to be discussed in detail.
I need to be sure that the patient is likely to understand all these - they need to have
sufficient time to take all this in and make a judgement.
Often it's a difficult choice between one treatment option or another.
And I think the consent process is very important.
I like to feel that people have understood and they have given valid consent based on
all the information I have given them.
And I also like to discuss with them the likelihood of success.
That is the likelihood of the treatment abolishing their symptoms giving them the relief of symptoms
they want; or the likelihood of the treatment giving them the improvement in the appearance
that they want.
All of that takes time and from my point of view I don't like to have a consultation and
treatment in 1 visit.
So if you are considering "see and treat" in one visit then unfortunately that is not
something I will provide.
There are specialists who who do that and they say that they have a very good satisfaction
rate.
Now I hope you have found this video of interest.
If you have don't forget to subscribe by clicking on the link here and I would like to hear
from you if you disagree if you think that it is perfectly okay to see and treat in one
visit.
I'd like to hear from you.
I'd like to hear your comments.
If you're a specialist who feels strongly that I am perhaps too conservative or too
cautious I would love to hear from you.
Just leave your comments in the box below and I will try to get back to you as soon
as possible.
Thank you for watching my video.