Tiny blue and purple squiggles on your legs are typically called spider veins. If you’ve noticed them and they bother you, you may be thinking about ways to cover up your calves and thighs so no one can see these marks. Did you know there’s a way to get rid of spider veins for good?
At New Image Med Spa in Fremont, California, Dr. Surinder Sandhu provides sclerotherapy, an effective, safe treatment for spider veins that gets rid of those damaged, visible veins so your legs look healthier.
The smallest veins in your body are the capillaries that lie just under your skin. These veins have one-way valves to keep blood pumping in the right direction. If a valve is damaged, blood pools up in the vein and the capillary enlarges and becomes visible through the skin as a tiny squiggle that looks blue or purple.
Spider veins usually don’t pose a health risk, but they can damage your self-confidence. However, if you have venous issues like spider veins, it may be a sign that you could develop varicose veins.
When blood pools up in a larger vein, it can cause a ropy look as the vein bulges and appears to knot under the pressure of the pooled blood. These are known as varicose veins, and they are more common in women than in men. Having varicose veins can put you at risk for a blood clot or deep vein thrombosis.
The most common form of treatment for those unsightly spider veins is sclerotherapy. With a very small needle, we inject the affected vein with a sclerosing agent, which causes microscopic damage to the inside of the vein.
This causes the vein to collapse on itself and seal shut. Because the vein isn’t performing its natural function anymore, your body views it as normal waste material to be flushed out through your lymphatic system. The blood that was running through that vein gets diverted to nearby healthy veins.
A sclerotherapy procedure usually takes less than an hour unless you’re having many veins treated. Most patients say sclerotherapy isn’t painful, and any discomfort from the procedure usually passes quickly.
Dr. Sandhu recommends compression stockings to aid healing and improve circulation following your treatment. You start seeing results in as little as two weeks, and your spider veins should be all but invisible after two months.
Are you thinking about getting rid of your spider veins? Call 510-269-2960 or use our online request tool to make an appointment for a sclerotherapy consultation with Dr. Sandhu today.
