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Vein Removal

Many women suffer from a variety of vein conditions including spider veins, leg veins, varicose veins or thread veins. These veins usually appear on the legs and can be a source of both pain and embarrassment.

Fortunately the majority of these veins can be treated or removed with minimally invasive cosmetic procedures.

Types of Veins

  • Spider Veins: These small lesions radiate from a central vessel giving the appearance of a tiny red spider.
  • Facial Veins and Broken Veins: Smatterings of these fine, red lines can be found predominantly on the cheekbones and nose.
  • Thread Veins and Leg Veins: These superficial leg veins are the most common abnormality affecting the blood vessels in the skin.
  • Varicose Veins: Bluer and puffier than thread veins, varicose veins also appear on the legs

Spider Veins

Spider veins are small arterial lesions and may occur at any age, most commonly in younger women. The spider vein or spider naevi radiates in a spoke like fashion from a central vessel, which feeds the smaller ones. Treatment consists of either surgical excision of the central vessel, or destruction of the vessel with a short pulse of yellow light. The abnormality is replaced with either normal skin or a tiny white dot.

Facial Veins / Broken Veins

The popular myth of broken facial veins being a problem associated with drinking too much is not true. In fact, this condition is common in fair skinned people who have been exposed to a lot of sun and wind regardless of their drinking habits (although it is true that alchohol makes the face redden temporarily by causing the vessels to dilate.

Unprotected exposure to sun and wind causes inflammation that, over time, becomes more prominent and eventually cannot be covered except by thick layers of make-up. The key to cure is prevention, by wearing sun hats and sun blocks. This protects the skin from ultraviolet damage which can lead to keratoses (sun crusts) and skin cancers, as well as broken veins in the face.

However once the damage is done, facial veins may be treated with one of a variety of available yellow light lasers. Anaesthetic is not usually required for treatment.

Thread Veins and Leg Veins

Thread veins usually make their appearance on the legs of women in their twenties and become more obvious after pregnancy or with hormonal preparations, such as the oral contraceptive pill. They are often associated varicose veins, which are larger, puffier and bluer.

Your surgeon will want to know if there is a family history of venous disorders and you will be examined to exclude varicose vein disease, which would have to be treated first.

Problems with thread and varicose veins can be delayed by wearing compression pantyhose, particularly at times of venous congestion (when there is more pressure on the blood vessels), for example around menstruation.

These days, compression pantyhose come in a variety of fashionable colours and textures are usually indistinguishable from everyday pantyhose.

If a thread vein problem does develop it is easily treated with microinjection sclerotherapy. This technique has been available for 60-70 years but has only recently become popular.

Laser treatment is not a satisfactory treatment for thread veins or varicose veins and is not recommended. Attempts to treat thread veins with the laser results in white streaky marks on the legs, which may be more unsightly than the veins themselves.

Micro injection scleroptherapy is a demanding technique. It needs to be carried out with very fine needles under bright light using magnification. Sclerosant solution is gently introduced in the abnormal vessel through a fine needle. The solution ‘shits down’ the vein, making it inactive.

Very concentrated slat water is the most commonly used sclerosant. The sclerosant is designed to irritate the lining of the blood vessel causing it to become sticky and seal off. The injections are a little painful. A stinging sensation is replaced with a dull ache which lasts for several minutes.

Pressure pads of foam rubber are often applied to larger veins. Compression pantyhose should be worn continuously for 48 hours after treatment and during standing hours for about a week. Repeat treatments are almost always required at intervals of four to six weeks. Optimum results usually follow after two or three treatments.

Possible Complications with Vein Removal

This is a relatively straight forward procedure and complications other than transient pain are very unusual, however the following may possibly occur.

  • Ulcers: these may form on the skin after injecting the sclerosant into the skin, rather than the vein. The ulcers are usually small and heal leaving a very small mark.

  • Bruising: This may result because of back-bleeding into the skin. Compression pads and pantyhose help to prevent this. However there is a small risk of staining of the skin at the injection site.

  • Blistering: Blisters at the site may occur but they usually clear up in about 10 days.

  • Swelling: Excessive sclerosant injected around the ankle may temporarily cause the feet to swell.