Spider veins and varicose veins affect over 65% of people in America, and can be a cause for concern in terms of someone’s physical and mental health. But very few people seek treatment for them – roughly only 2% to 3% of those affected look for ways to reduce the appearance and potentially harmful effects of visible and/or dysfunctional veins.
This is where we can help you. Vein disorders are very common, no matter a person’s age, gender, or background. That means seeking information and treatment for issues such as spider veins is not impossible!
So, if you’re seeking information about treating spider veins, and what might be best for you, we’ve listed the necessary need to know details below for you.
What Are Spider Veins?
Spider veins are veins that appear blue or purple in appearance underneath the skin, and are usually small in size and tend to cluster. They are so called because they take on a web like appearance, and sit right underneath the surface of the skin, visible to the naked eye.
They occur due to damaged blood valves in the veins; blood cannot flow properly through the valve and subsequently, the rest of the vein. This leads to the blood collecting in the vein, rather than flowing where it should go: back to the heart and to the rest of the body.
Spider veins can often be caused by a variety of lifestyle factors, both in and out of a person’s control. Commonly, factors such as obesity, heredity, age, hormone changes, exposure to sun, and injuries cause spider veins the most.
Of course, spider veins are usually nothing to worry about. The body can continue to function just fine if spider veins appear on your body, and are mostly a cause of cosmetic concern. A person may not like the appearance of spider veins, or may be bothered by more than one spider veins affected areas around their body, and seek treatment to remove the concern.
However, they can often give rise to symptoms that can interrupt your daily life, irritating and uncomfortable in nature. A person may experience symptoms such as pain, itching, a burning sensation or numbness around the area, as well as trouble sitting or standing for an extended period of time due to spider veins affecting the legs.
What are the Best Spider Veins Treatment Options?
Treatment is available to anyone looking to reduce and remove the appearance of spider veins on their skin. If you’re someone who is self conscious about spider veins, or you’re someone who is experiencing pain and/or discomfort due to living with long term spider veins, treatment is the next step for you.
And spider veins can be easily treated via the use of cosmetic and regenerative therapies, and on the market at the moment, there are a couple of effective and common treatments for spider veins.
Let’s go through the two main options available to you:
Sclerotherapy
Sclerotherapy is one of the most popular treatments for spider veins, as it is a minimally-invasive procedure, and works best in the leg areas. However, it can also be used to treat veins in other areas of the body, as it is a versatile treatment.
Sclerotherapy has been designed to diminish spider veins, as well as other small, superficial veins visible under the surface of the skin, and works best to relieve both the potentially uncomfortable symptoms as well as the sensitive appearance of spider veins.
How does it work?
Well, Sclerotherapy works using a fine needle via injection into the veins, delivering a specialized medical solution directly to a target vein under the skin.
Once the solution has been injected, it works to irritate the inner lining of a vein. Over time, this will cause the vein to collapse, which leaves the collected blood with nowhere else to go except into the surrounding healthy veins. The blood will ultimately rejoin a person’s normal and functioning circulatory system. Overtime, the collapsed veins will turn into scar tissue, and naturally fade from view, meaning they are removed from the body.
What happens next?
After a successful treatment, the spider veins will be naturally removed from the body, as we mentioned above. You can watch this happen; you will soon notice a clear and vein free complexion to your skin.
As a part of the aftercare treatment, a patient will be required to wear compression stockings, just while the sclerosing agent is settling into the veins and working to destroy the diseased and non functioning veins the cause the appearance of spider veins on the skin.
If these compression socks are not worn for the right period of time, the healing process may be affected, and the appearance of spider veins may take longer to be removed from the body.
RFA Vein Closure
RFA is a relatively new treatment on the market for issues like spider veins or varicose veins. RFA, otherwise known as radio frequency ablation vein closure, is a revolutionary approach that can help to alter and/or correct the appearance and potential symptoms of spider veins and varicose veins.
RFA is a minimally invasive treatment, just like Sclerotherpay, and it works by using radiofrequency energy to gently and gradually heat up the walls inside problem veins that cause issues like spider veins. It does not make use of laser energy.
How does it work?
To go into more detail, as a problem vein gets warmer, it becomes damaged, which tells your body to build scar tissue around it. A formation of scar tissue will help to close off the veins, causing them to collapse and making them a non functioning part of the circulatory system, ultimately fading them from view by the naked eye.
It might seem like a complicated process, but there are only a few steps involved in RFA:
- Before treatment occurs, local anesthesia will be applied to the problem veins in question at the surface level, which makes sure the patient does not experience any pain or discomfort during the procedure.
- Once the anesthesia has taken hold, a small incision is made in the area, into which a fine tube is passe through and into the problem vein. This is to ensure radiofrequency energy can be delivered to the walls of the vein the tube accesses, allowing them to be heated and damaged for future closing off.
What happens next? After receiving RFA, compression socks will once again be required to be worn, in order to cover and protect the area of your body that has been treated. Most commonly, these socks will need to be worn for 7 days following the procedure, but the times can vary. A patient will need to follow a medical professional’s advice on what compression period is right for them.
If you’re worried about the potential safety issues involved in RFA, it’s important that you’re aware that radiofrequency is a perfectly safe, tried and tested, and effective solution, that can alter and ultimately correct the appearance of spider veins around the body.
The Benefits of Treating Spider Veins
Treating spider veins can bring a whole host of benefits into a person’s life. Once a procedure has taken place, and the healing process has finished, a lack of pain and discomfort throughout day to day life is one of the most sought after benefits of the two procedures above.
Removing spider veins from the body can be a great boost to a person’s health, as it ensures these problem veins cannot develop into something more serious, such as varicose veins. Varicose veins can be a lot more trouble to deal with, and catching a problem vein before it can develop is key to ensuring a patient’s daily life is as comfortable as they want it to be.
Of course, the cosmetic benefits are legendary. No longer will a person have to endure the appearance of spider veins across their body; treatment can lead to an increase in someone’s self esteem and outward confidence, and can be great for the summer season when a person typically wants to dress light and show off their body.
More specifically, Sclerotherapy benefits include:
- A quick treatment time
- A fast recovery period
- A natural use of the body’s healing factor to ensure problem veins no longer show up on the surface of the skin
As well as the above, for RFA, the benefits can differ a little:
- RFA can also help the skin to glow after treatment, causing a refreshing effect
- If used on the legs, RFA allows a patient to be able to walk right after treatment occurs, meaning little to no immediate recovery period
- RFA is much more comfortable on the body compared to laser treatments
What is the Best Treatment for You?
Ultimately, the best treatment for spider veins depends on where the problem veins are located, how they affect your lifestyle, and how quickly you need to recover from a treatment. Talk to a medical professional to determine which might be useful. Contact us today and book a consultation at our office in Corona Del Mar. We look forward to hearing from you!