Spider Veins

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What are spider veins?

Spider veins, also commonly known as thread veins, are small, twisted blood vessels that appear as small clusters of blue or red veins on the skin’s surface. These mostly affect the face, body and legs and are very common, especially in women. Spider veins and varicose veins have a lot in common, but the main difference is their appearance. Varicose veins appear as swollen and enlarged veins with a bumpy appearance and are common on the legs, whereas spider veins tend to fan out in a spidery pattern across all areas of the body, from the face to the stomach area.

What causes spider veins?

Spider veins are caused when tiny valves inside a person’s veins stop working properly. These valves regulate blood flow to prevent it flowing backwards and building up inside a vein. However, when these valves weaken or become damaged, blood is able to flow backwards inside the vein. The blood then pools and collects inside the vein before bulging and branching out into a spider pattern across the surface of the skin.

Who is likely to get spider veins?

Spider veins can occur in a wide variety of people young and old. But they are frequently associated with people who have had a genetic history of spider veins in their family, as well as obese people, those who have suffered trauma, and those with fluctuations in hormone levels. In many cases, the exact cause is not known. However, they tend to become more numerous with age, making older age groups more vulnerable to the appearance of spider veins.

Treatments to get rid of Spider Veins

At The Cosmetic Skin Clinic, we specialise in providing spider vein removal treatments that are minimally invasive, with hardly any downtime. Our treatments are usually walk-in, walk-out procedures, and patients can resume their normal activities on the same day as being treated. Our most popular spider vein treatment methods are outlined below.

Sclerotherapy for Spider Veins

Spider veins and threads veins on legs are treated by a simple, effective procedure called sclerotherapy. This thread vein removal treatment uses a sclerosing agent, which is a medical solution that is injected directly into these broken veins using a very fine needle. The solution irritates the lining of the thread vein, causing the walls of the vein to stick together. Blood stops flowing through the leg veins, and they collapse. Then, over a period of 2-4 weeks, the residue is absorbed by the body’s natural defence mechanism. Over a course of sclerotherapy treatments, unwanted leg veins will improve significantly. This treatment is performed at The Private Clinic of Harley Street, our sister clinic.

BBL (BroadBand Light) for Spider Veins

Spider veins on the face can be treated with BroadBand Light or BBL, an advanced technology that is considered the world’s most powerful IPL laser. The BBL hand pieces include state-of-the-art cooling features. This enables the use of high-powered energy with only minimal pain, side effects and post-treatment downtime. The broadband light treatment breaks down the dilated capillaries on the face that are then reabsorbed by the body. As a result, you will notice that the appearance of any existing broken blood vessels will significantly reduced on your face and/or decolletage.

BBL effectively targets red veins around the nose, red veins on the cheeks and is also great for managing rosacea symptoms. With treatment time only taking 30-45 minutes, patients find it very convenient for their day to day routine. Our practitioners typically advise a minimum of 3 BBL treatment sessions depending on the patient’s concerns.

Cutera CoolGlide for Blue Veins on the face

The Private Clinic of Harley Street, our sister clinic, offer Cutera CoolGlide to treat the face for blue veins. This special laser expertly targets blue veins on the face including under the eye. When passed over the skin, it delivers pulses of light energy that cause the blood in the prominent blue veins to coagulate and close the vessel. The closed vessel is simply re-absorbed by the body with the blood redirected to deeper and less visible facial veins.

A major highlight of this treatment is the ease of it. Treatment time is a quick 15-30 minutes and you can be back to your daily routine post-treatment.

To find out more about our available spider vein removal treatments, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our expert practitioners in Buckinghamshire and London. Alternatively, you can find out everything there is to know about spider veins or thread veins in our dedicated blog post.

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