How Karen’s thread vein journey boosted her confidence

It’s really boosted my confidence. It’s made me feel that people...I’m not drawing attention to people looking at that particular area and thinking that, you know, that area kind of appears on my leg and looks bad.

The treatment I received was thread vein treatment, and it started around January 2026.

The thread veins started to show themselves after I’d had my family. My thread veins were on my legs and they weren’t having a dreadful impact on me physically, but I felt I couldn’t show my legs, so it was more of a confidence type issue.

I actually saw Mr George Taggart. I felt like I already knew him because I’d seen him on the online video that I’d watched. So I got a very warm welcome when I came in and it was great, because the thing about the consultation was it never felt pressured to do anything.

And I think Mr Taggart was totally honest in everything that he explained to me. He gave me his assessment, how many sessions and a treatment plan, so I felt really thoroughly looked after. I liked the fact that I was given lots of information, all the information and plenty of time to ask as many questions as I wanted to ask. I also felt very confident to explain what my expectations were of the treatment as well.

My experience whilst here was very good. I was seen completely on time. The information’s good from the minute you come in, you get a really good welcome. I was taken through the system really, really quickly and although I saw Mr Taggart, there was a nurse there all the time.

During my treatment, I had three treatments in the end. I had different nurses, but they were all brilliant. They were all very, very professional, but they gave me additional information as well. They were very chatty and friendly, so the whole experience was made very comfortable and welcoming.

I’d say, as a whole, Benenden Hospital is really beautifully placed, out in the countryside. It’s very easy to get to. I don’t live that far away, but if you did live a long way away then it’s quite easy still to get to. One thing that really strikes you when you come in is how clean and spacious the hospital is, there’s lots of light spaces as well.

So when I came for my first vein treatment, I was understandably a little bit anxious, because you would be. Everything was explained to me. I was met by the nurse while I sat in the reception area and welcomed in. I saw Mr Taggart there and he explained again, went through everything, checked the areas again and explained what was going to happen.

I got up on the couch and then what I thought was actually really good and worked well for me is that the nurse stood by the side of me and really engaged me in some quite deep conversation, which meant that Mr Taggart could get on with what he was actually doing. I didn’t think about it, I wasn’t aware of it, and from a distraction point of view it worked really, really well.

So it was over in 15 minutes. My appointment time was 30 minutes, so by the time it had been explained to me, the aftercare of this, which was really simple, I was then able to just hop off the couch and go on my way.

My recovery was really easy. The patch that I had was on my leg and after the treatment you have some little cotton wool pads on the treatment sites, and they are covered over with, as I say, cotton wool fixed down with a plaster-type effect, some strapping on your legs.

So I would recommend anyone who comes would wear loose trousers or something that gave the legs room to move, because you don’t want those moving off. I was advised to leave them on for three days. I didn’t have a problem with bathing around that and I found it quite easy because it was treating just one area. They were not widely spaced, so I was able to shower or have a bath and just protect that particular area, leave my leg up, or whatever, and it wasn’t a problem.

I chose to have the treatment during the winter time because I wanted to be able to wear shorts, not short shorts, but reasonable shorts, in the summer. So what I would recommend anybody doing if they’re in that similar situation to me is that they consider perhaps having it in the colder months, because if you want to be shorts-ready for June, you’re going to really have to start early on in the year because the treatments are a month apart. As I say, you might have the two treatments and you might decide to go for that third treatment, so you need to leave a little bit of space for that.

Now I feel totally confident to wear shorts, which was the idea of it. I think the people who would benefit from thread vein treatment are people who, like me, possibly lack confidence in how they are at the moment.

I would say to anyone who feels like me that it would boost their confidence, they should just go for it. It’s easy, it’s fast. It’s not going to impact on your day to have the treatment, but it will impact on your life and your confidence if you don’t.

I think Benenden Hospital has been absolutely brilliant. I think they’ve been great. Everything was streamlined, everything was fast. Everything was very professional. I can’t really rate them any higher.