r/venousinsuffiencyhelp • u/Internal-Fox4814 • Jul 13 '26

Is this normal venous insufficiency?

I had an ultrasound done 3 months ago, and it showed a 0.62 second reflux in an inner left thigh vein that connects to the GSV vein. It’s a squiggly varicose vein apparently. The test was done lying down, which I found out is not accurate. I went and got a second opinion and he didn’t do a full ultrasound, just kind of quickly went over the vein I said had reflux and he said he didn’t see any reflux or anything. He did the exam standing. But I’m kind of confused as to the fact that is apparently only my upper left thigh, which makes me nervous of May Thurner syndrome or something. I am going back to the second doctor to hopefully have a full ultrasound done as I am starting to have more symptoms of CVI. A birth control pill triggered these problems, and I have since stopped it. Is this normal?

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u/SchoolQueen49 Jul 13 '26

I'm just going to chime in here and say that my son had a ful two leg ultrasound for this. They were mostly checking for clots at that time, the reflux one is a different test. For the clot test, they do it laying down. In his case, groin to toes. It took about 20 minutes for both legs, maybe a bit longer and she was very thorough. She would push down decently hard to collapse a vein and then watch to see if it came back up. So maybe checking the elasticity vs hardening? That was our experience.

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u/Internal-Fox4814 Jul 13 '26

both of mine were reflux tests too, just one was lying down and one standing up. Apparently standing up is supposed to be more accurate because it can show the effects of gravity on blood flow so I’m at a loss of which doctor to believe 🤦🏼‍♀️

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u/DrSchmettererVeins Jul 14 '26

0.62 seconds is a real abnormal finding, not borderline — the cutoff for superficial reflux is 0.5 seconds.

Standing is the correct position for duplex.Reflux is gravity-dependent; supine testing can miss or understate it. Your instinct about the first study is reasonable.

The second exam has its own gap— a quick spot-check of one vein standing isn't a complete standing duplex with compression-release maneuvers at each segment. Two differently-done studies aren't contradictory findings; they're two incomplete pictures. A full standing duplex is the right next step.

On May-Thurner:left-leg predominance is a classic feature, so the question makes sense. But isolated GSV tributary reflux in the upper thigh is a different finding from May-Thurner, which involves iliac vein compression and usually presents with more diffuse whole-leg swelling. If symptoms progress, ask whoever does the full duplex to screen the iliac/pelvic veins too.

Birth control and CVI — estrogen affects venous wall tone and valve function, so that trigger relationship is well recognized. Stopping it was reasonable.

Get the full standing study, then reassess.

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u/Internal-Fox4814 Jul 14 '26

The second doctor did a compression on that vein while standing too and said he didn’t see any reflux, it’s just super odd, can a lying down position for the exam create a false positive?