[Should the incontinent saphenous veins be stripped down to the ankle?]

Long strippings (groin to ankle) are subject to an unacceptable percentage (23-58%) of neurological complications due to traumatism of the saphenous nerve. A simple saphenofemoral ligation avoids these complications, but the incidence of varicose relapse is nevertheless still about 60%. Our long saphenal strippings practised on 96 legs in 71 patients were followed in 4.2% by saphenous neurological symptoms, with varicose relapse in 12.5%; this is half as many as in sclerosant injection therapy.