To take exception to the eminent T.S. Eliot, May, not April, is the crudest month. That's when 25 million Americans, including healthy, fit adults in their 30s and 40s, confront a disturbing reality: varicose veins. There, on newly naked legs, popping out for all the world to see, are veins that might look tolerable on a Spandex-stockinged matron, but not on a hard-bodied go-getter. If the swelling ranks of aging Americans needed a varicose-vein poster boy, Clint Eastwood would do fine. Like many of the 20% of sufferers who are male, Clint, despite much golfing and tennis-playing, developed lower legs that looked like they had snakes wrapped around them. Though getting exercise and watching one's weight can help stave off the condition, they don't guarantee against it. Fortunately, new procedures are catching on that promise better relief with less agony than any previously available.
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