Quotation from: Manual of Surgery

Written by: Alexander Miles and Alexis Thomson

When, at the end of three weeks, the danger of embolism is past,
douching and gentle massage may be employed to disperse the oedema; and
when the patient gets up he should wear a supporting elastic bandage.

The _infective_ form usually begins as a peri-phlebitis arising in
connection with some focus of infection in the adjacent tissues. The
elements of the vessel wall are destroyed by suppuration, and the
thrombus in its lumen becomes infected with pyogenic bacteria and
undergoes softening.