In the original “Modest Proposal” in 1729, Jonathan Swift suggested that the way to relieve society of the burden of poor children was, well…to eat them.
No, he wasn’t serious. Yes, he was a freaking marketing genius. His satire was so inflammatory and provocative that we’re still mentioning it almost 300 years later.
For those of you who don’t already know and love me, I’m Dr. Dave Rosen and I do my best to relieve society of the burden of varicose and spider veins. I do a fair amount of reading on the topic…in print and on the web…and it’s during my web travels that I invariably encounter ads in the top/side of the screen in the search engines …ads where certain vascular surgeons tout the fact that they are the better way to go when it comes to vein treatment.
Look, I’m not one to be provocative or inflammatory [pause for laughter from those who know me], but I didn’t start the provocation this time. I may agree with “Why a Vein Center?”…I’m not into assembly-line medicine either. But if you’re asking provocative questions, a more reasonable one to ask might be “Why a vascular surgeon at all?!”
I’m just not sure the surgeons have a winning argument at a time when the state-of-the-art treatment for superficial vein disease involves non-surgical approaches.
Here’s a similar argument and another modest proposal: We all need to give up digital watches and go back to grandfather clocks.
No…wait…we all need to give up using cell phones and go back to using land lines, specifically on rotary phones, to communicate with each other. Or better still… we can just return to a time without phones/telegraphs/cuneiform tablets…when we just talked to each other directly.
The Downsides:
- Long distance “calls” would only have a range of about 100 yards if there’s no ambient noise and it’s not a windy day. Somewhat longer if you are in a fjord and can yodel.
- No way to screen calls
The Upsides:
- Save big bucks on your phone bill.
- You can still call “911”…if you yell it very loudly in front of a stationary ambulance and the driver has the window rolled down and you are jumping up and down holding a fluorescent pink sign that says “HELP”. You might want to just smack the sign against the ambulance to ensure the driver is aware of you.
Sure, back in the day…and that day, by the way, was some time around the turn of the millenium…surgery was the way to go to treat superficial venous insufficiency. That’s because it was the only way. The whole reason for the drive to develop new, non-surgical techniques wasn’t because, ahem, the surgeries were so effective. That was a thinly-veiled way of saying they had a higher rate of complications and recurrences…had more post-procedure discomfort…and downtime…than patients would tolerate. So a lot of people avoided treatment altogether; in retrospect, not such a bad plan…until now.
If Necessity is the Mother of Invention, “Sticking To Outmoded, Inferior Things” is Invention’s goofy cousin
; someone Invention only tolerates seeing on Thanksgiving…and even then, Invention makes sure to sit WAY on the opposite end of the table…while Aunt Patience is stuck sitting next to “Outmodo” and has to listen to him drone on and on about the virtues of horse-drawn carriages and the Commodore Vic 20 computer.
So…about 15 years ago, some clever people…non-surgeons included…adapted techniques being used for non-surgical approaches to other vascular problems…and came up with ways to treat the underlying issue for many with symptomatic varicose veins: superficial venous insufficiency
[if you want to learn more about that disorder, click here]. Rather than physically stripping veins out of the body, veins can be left in place and closed internally by using various methods. All of this can be accomplished using a bit of local anesthetic and through a nick the size of a paper cut that doesn’t even require sutures to close.
These minimally-invasive treatments were viewed cautiously at first…and justifiably so…until research data gathered over the years had established the efficacy of minimally-invasive, endovenous closure techniques and demonstrated, in various ways, their superiority over surgical stripping.
So…most docs seriously interested in treating superficial vein disease…and, more importantly, seriously interested in having happy, satisfied patients…learned how to do non-surgical procedures. That’s what I did. Unlike a lot of those docs… unlike even some of those local, Chicagoland vascular surgeons…I went above and beyond and passed an exam to achieve certification by the American Board of Venous & Lymphatic Medicine.
Be that as it may, paper on a wall means little. What my patients want is the same thing I want. I want to go to a doc with:
- Experience using state-of-the-art techniques
- The prudence of knowing when NOT to do something
- The OCD-ness to be thorough and persistent and persnickety about treating varicose and spider veins.
- A genuinely cheerful disposition and a sense of humor.
I want the same doc who meets me to be only person who treats me.
Period. No, exclamation point! Since that’s the kind of stuff I looked for in a medical practice for me and my family, that’s exactly the kind of practice I wanted to create for my patients.
That’s not to say that you won’t get great care at some of the other places, but none of them will ever be Rosen Vein Care…and that’s truly sad for them. 🙁
So, let’s recap:
- Going to a vascular surgeon for non-invasive, non surgical vein treatments is kinda like…well there’s no real analogy needed…it’s EXACTLY like going to someone for something that other well-trained people can do well. You still want me to come up with an analogy, don’t you?…so demanding!…ok, ok….going to see someone who is a surgeon for non-surgical care is like going to a steakhouse for vegetarian food: it might be an OK idea, but other places may do it as good or better. [nailed it!]
- It isn’t wrong to look for a medical practice that values you as the most important member of the team.
- Nice, cheerful, patient, thorough,knowledgeable docs are a thing. Unfortunately they aren’t a universal thing.
So…while it would be lovely for you to stroll into the office and schedule your initial consultation appointment with me, you can embrace technology and innovation and let your “fingers do the walking”: call 847-272-8346 OR just click the button below to get started. We can typically see new patients within 3 business days.
See you soon!
