A Case of Bleeding Blue Blebs

Abstract

Bleeding is a rare complication of varicose veins, but some fatalities have been reported. A 57-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with bleeding from varicose veins. Past history included pulmonary embolism. For the past 10 years he had had varicose veins with pigmentation and lipodermatosclerosis in both legs. Bleeding from blue blebs on his right ankle began after a towel was passed over the veins. He was treated with a pressure bandage at a local hospital. On the following day, he consulted our hospital to prevent rebleeding. The treatment plan was to treat the bleeding problem first by preventing rebleeding because the patient strongly refused the treatment of the primaryvaricose veins. After bilateral high ligations were performed to decrease venous hypertension and to prevent recurrence of idiopathic pulmonary embolism, injection to blue blebs and adjacent feeding veins was made. He has had no

bleeding for ten months follow-up.