I've had a gnarly looking varicose vein in my left leg by my knee for quite a while. It's never bothered me much until maybe a month ago when both legs started bothering me. My calves hurt, my legs feel heavy, and it generally is uncomfortable. I ended up going to two doctors. One is in a "vein clinic" type place. They did an ultrasound and said the great saphenous in both legs is basically worthless at this point. He said he would go in below the knee, heat up the vein, it would be closed off, and I would be back to normal pretty quickly. The other doctor is a typical doctor in a university hospital practice. He said he would go in just above the ankle and basically do the same thing, het it up, seal it off, but it would take a month or so before I could resume strenuous activity.

Anyone gone through this? Or any thoughts in general? Wearing compression stockings helps quite a bit, so don't know if I should see anyone else, stick with the compression stockings for a while, or go ahead and have the surgery (probably with the first doc, because I got a better feeling from him).

Thanks.