What Are Spider Veins?
Spider veins on your legs, face, and feet can cause embarrassment and make you hesitate to show off your skin. These veins are very small pink or purple vessels that look like webs or strings just under the surface of the skin. Enlarged veins may make you feel uncomfortable with how your skin looks. But different types of laser and chemical injection treatments can safely and quickly make these veins less noticeable.
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If you're considering spider vein removal, you will need to schedule a consultation first. During your consultation, our specialists will discuss:
- your expectations,
- whether you're a candidate for the procedure, and
- a treatment timeline.
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7 Resulting Health Care Providers
Alice Frigerio, MD, PhD
Erika Summers, MD
Payam Tristani-Firouzi, MD
Sclerotherapy: Treating Spider Veins
Sclerotherapy is the gold standard for treating unwanted leg veins, including reticular varicosities and spider veins.
During your first consultation, your doctor will examine your legs to make sure you don’t have more serious vein problems (like deep venous insufficiency, for example). If your doctor determines you’re a good candidate, your doctor will begin small injections of safe chemicals into your veins. Your doctor will use very small needles. You will feel only slight pain and won’t need topical numbing. Most patients read, listen to music, or have conversations with us during their treatment sessions.
We use either glycerin or polidocanol chemicals for the injections, and both of these solutions injure the blood vessel lining and cause the vein to collapse. As your body heals, the vein fills with scar tissue so there is no more blood flow. This causes the vein to disappear.
The most common side effects include:
- bruising for one to three weeks,
- itching and hive-like swelling in the area of your injection,
- and mild soreness for one to three days.
Most patients need two to four treatments.
We will ask you to wear compression stockings for two weeks after your treatment.
Alexandrite & ND:Yag Lasers
Althought Alexandrite & ND:Yag lasers are known for treating birthmarks and larger blood vessels on the face (like the large blood vessels on the nose), these lasers can also treat certain types of spider veins on the legs.
Treating unwanted veins with Alexandrite and ND:Yag lasers is very fast. The laser uses intense light which injures you blood vessel lining. As your body heals, the vein fills with scar tissue so there is no more blood flow. This causes the vein to disappear.
Your doctor will put a topical numbing on your skin to make sure you don’t feel any pain. You may have bruising and darkened blood vessels around the area where the laser was used for one to two weeks after.
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