COSMETIC VEINS

COSMETIC VEINS

Unsightly, dilated veins represent a common reason for consultation in clinics. They can be located at different locations in your body, but the ones that are, by far, the most treated are leg veins and face veins.

FACE VEINS

Face veins are normally seen as thread veins at the cheeks or broken veins present at the nose, In other cases, these vascular lesions are seen as little red spots, also known as cherry angiomas.
These face veins are, in many cases, purely cosmetic, and can be easily eliminated. However, they are also seen as a symptom for certain diseases such as rosacea. And when this is the case, the underlying problems should be treated first before considering any vein treatment, or the results may be disappointing.

Face veins before and after

These unsightly veins can be treated using different devices, such as laser, intense pulsed light or IPL, plasma or thermocoagulation. Although they all can offer good results, the best and pain-free method to treat face veins is thermocoagulation.

What is thermocoagulation?

Thermocoagulation uses a very low current of 4MHz, delivered through an isolated probe. The target is the wall of the blood vessel, not the blood (as is the case for light-based devices such as lasers or IPL). When the device is shot, it will immediately seal the vein and the vein literally disappears. The patient can see the results at once and the pain is nil.

ThermaVein

The treatment is office-based, quick and does not require any local anaesthetic. Downtime for the procedure is minimal and in most cases only 1 session of treatment is required.

Dr. Arturo Almeida is an expert on Thermavein, the most effective thermocoagulation device available in the market, and he is also a Medical Advisor for this company.

COSMETIC LEG VEINS

Cosmesis is always the main reason why patients consult for leg veins. Also known as thread leg veins or spider veins, will make people, women in particular, more self-conscious about their legs and stop them from wearing certain outfits such as shorts or skirts. Some women may feel so embarrassed of their legs that they may even avoid going to the beach or the swimming pool during the summer season.

The problem of thread veins and spider veins is that, if left untreated, may evolve to the ugly, bulging and dilated varicose veins, which now represent a health issue. In fact, in up to 10% cases, varicose veins will evolve to venous ulcers, a lesion that represents a major medical condition.

How can cosmetic leg veins be treated?

Spider veins and thread leg veins can be treated using different methods. The reality is that no single method will permanently eliminate these veins and recurrence is high. Therefore, follow up visits to your doctor are advised for long-standing results.

The gold standard to treat cosmetic leg veins is sclerotherapy, also referred to as microsclerotherapy.

Percutaneous laser

Lasers and other energy-based devices are also used to treat spider veins and cosmetic leg veins. They are percutaneous techniques and are very effective when the target is fine, superficial veins. Typically, several sessions are required to achieve results. However, in many cases, thread veins are secondary to the presence of deeper, dilated veins, known as reticular veins. These reticular veins are not even seen or perceived by the patient, but unless we treat them first with a well-performed sclerotherapy,.these percutaneous techniques will fail.

MICRO SCLEROTHERAPY

Arturo performing microslerotherapy

Sclerotherapy is a well-established procedure for the treatment of spider veins and has gained a reputation as a safe and effective treatment for cosmetic veins and telangiectasia on the legs. It is reasonable to expect an improvement of 40-80 percent in the appearance of these cosmetic veins after a microsclerotherapy procedure. Most patients report that after about four weeks, they begin to see a difference, although the full effects of spider vein treatment will take two to three months to see. In most cases, however, an average of 4 sessions are needed to achieve desired results.

With sclerotherapy, a solution or “sclerosant agent” is injected into the dilated vein using a very fine needle, which in most cases is not even felt by the patient. The solution irritates the inside of the blood vessel, causing it to shut and block the flow of blood, in a process known as sclerosis. The procedure is done at the doctor’s office, does not require anaesthesia, and it usually takes 30 minutes to complete.

Compression is a key part of the treatment. During the session of sclerotherapy, your doctor will apply a compression pad on the treated vein, to facilitate the irritating action of the sclerosant solution, and at the end, compression stockings and/or bandages are applied in the treated leg, and worn for about 3 weeks to keep this pressure. This will not interfere with any of your daily activities, including exercise.

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