Placebo Treatment for Varicosity: Don't Eat It, Rub it!

Abstract

Objective: To define and compare the clinical effectiveness of two different placebo applications, oral and topical, in the management of primary varicose veins. Design: Prospective, controlled trial with two parallel treatment groups. Setting: Social security system related rehabilitation centre in Germany with nationwide assignment of inpatients. Patients: Sixty-one patients with the clinical diagnosis of varicose veins. Interventions: Group A ( n = 30) received an oral placebo, group B ( n = 31) applied a topical placebo preparation to both legs. The treatment period was 24 days; both therapies were applied daily. Main outcome measures: Foot volume, ankle circumference, light reflex rheography and subjective complaints. Results: In both groups there were significant improvements in several outcome measures concerning both objective signs and subjective symptoms. Light reflex rheography yielded significantly better results in the topically compared with the orally treated group. Other variables followed this trend without, however, reaching the level of statistical significance. Conclusions: Symptoms of varicose veins are highly prone to respond to placebo. There are some indications to suggest that a topical placebo induces stronger effects than an oral one.