Dad followed the example of a health program and used bloodletting to treat "earthworm legs" in distress

　　"Inspired" by a health program, a Wuhan citizen bought a syringe to bleed himself, causing a serious local infection. Recently, the phenomenon of "sickness getting worse" has frequently occurred due to citizens' indiscriminate imitation of the programs to treat their illnesses.

　　The 67-year-old father Liu has been suffering from "earthworm legs" (common name for varicose veins in the lower limbs) for many years and has been afraid of going to the hospital. Last week, he watched a health program on TV saying that plum blossom needle bloodletting therapy can treat varicose veins. He had an idea and bought a syringe needle. He made three needle holes in the popliteal fossa on the inside of his right leg and bled 20 ml. Unexpectedly, Liu’s father noticed that the place where the blood was drawn started to become red that night. The next day, his skin became red, swollen and painful. At the Peripheral Vascular Department of Wuhan First Hospital, Director Xie Peilin discovered that Liu’s father’s “self-treatment” behavior had caused subcutaneous hematomas, clusters of varicose veins, severe local infections, and a critical condition. After anti-infective treatment and symptomatic treatment, the condition improved.

　　Xie Peilin said that varicose veins of the lower limbs are a common disease among the elderly. Long-term varicose veins of the lower limbs will lead to nutritional changes in the skin, including skin thinning, desquamation, itching, pigmentation, eczema and ulcer formation. Many patients follow health care programs blindly, which is actually not advisable. Some patients with varicose veins use hot water to soak their feet or do self-bloodletting therapy. Not only is this not very helpful for varicose veins in the lower limbs, high-temperature footbathing will also accelerate the deterioration of local skin, and bloodletting therapy is more likely to cause local infection. Citizens can correctly wrap their calves with elastic bandages or leggings under the guidance of doctors to prevent their further development.