Specialist Vein Health
If you are wondering about your varicose veins or spider veins, make that appointment with Specialist Vein Health today and put your mind at rest.
Do you have varicose veins? Varicose veins can often be uncomfortable and annoying to some people. Come and talk to one of our Wellington team members for a consultation regarding your varicose veins.
Varicose veins are gnarled and enlarged veins. Veins are blood vessels that carry blood back to the heart. Any vein can become varicose, but the most commonly affected are veins in your legs and feet. Varicose veins left untreated will not improve but rather slowly worsen over time.
In our bodies, there are one-way valves in the veins that stop blood falling back to your feet when you stand up. These valves sometimes fail. When this happens blood pools in your legs, which gives symptoms of discomfort, aching, swelling, skin changes or more serious skin damage (ulcers).
Our Specialist Vein Health Wellington Clinic offers two main treatments, these are sclerotherapy and radiofrequency ablation, also known as RFA.
Sclerotherapy is a treatment that intentionally damages the lining of varicose veins by injecting a chemical, called a sclerosant, into the vein and inducing a chemical phlebitis or inflammation. By doing this and then applying pressure the vein walls stick together. The vein can then no longer fill with blood and so it is obliterated. The compression applied after the injection is an essential part of the therapy.
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) is a modern alternative to traditional invasive surgical vein stripping. With this procedure, there is no need for bed rest, inactivity, hospital admission or general anaesthetic. No incisions are made meaning there are no scars. It is also considered to have a lower recurrence rate compared with surgical stripping.
Dr Wicks grew up in Wellington. His parents moved to New Zealand from Sri Lanka. His father was a GP in Lower Hutt for 40 years. Education was an important priority in the Wicks household and both Dr Wicks’ brothers are also surgeons in Wellington. Dr Wicks graduated from the University of Otago, following this he worked as a house surgeon in Wellington and Auckland. Dr Wicks then pursued a fellowship in General Surgery followed by a fellowship in Vascular Surgery. The training for both fellowships took him all around New Zealand and Australia. Dr Wicks is currently the President of the Vascular Society of New Zealand (VSNZ) and a member of the executive of the Australia and New Zealand Society of Vascular Surgery (ANZSVS). He is a Clinical Senior Lecturer, Department of Surgery & Anaesthesia, University of Otago, Wellington and from January 2020 he is the Capital and Coast District Health Board’s Vascular Clinical Leader.
Dr Wicks is a busy husband and father and enjoys spending time with his family, playing sports and the piano.
Dr Lupe was born and raised in Auckland. Her parents moved from Tonga in the 1960s and placed a high priority on their children obtaining a quality education. This laid the foundation for a career in medicine, and Dr Lupe followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, choosing surgery as a career. Dr Lupe and her younger sister are doctors. Dr Lupe studied medicine at Auckland’s medical school. Dr Lupe is the only female Vascular & Endovascular surgeon in New Zealand and the only Polynesian Vascular surgeon in the whole of Australasia. Dr Lupe was a house surgeon throughout hospitals in Auckland followed by Vascular Surgery training which took her throughout New Zealand and Australia. Dr Lupe is a Board Member of the Pasifika Medical Association; Clinical Senior Lecturer, Department of Surgery & Anaesthesia, University of Otago, Wellington and Provocational Educational Supervisory for the Medical Council of New Zealand. She is also a Mentor for Wāhine Connect, a national mentoring programme to support women in the New Zealand health sector.
Dr Lupe maintains a balanced life as a married mother of one, by spending time in the great outdoors with her friends and family.
Our vein specialists in Wellington use the most advanced and effective procedures to treat your varicose veins. This mean that you receive:
Procedures are walk-in-walk-out and you are in experienced, safe hands. No referral is needed for treatment, contact us now.