Thread veins and thread vein treatments:
- Often after varicose vein surgery patients find that they have some little veins ‘left over’ or they have some tiny broken veins in the skin that they would like ‘tidied up’
- These little veins are too tiny to be removed by surgery but there are some methods that can improve the way they look.
- Thread veins are tiny blood vessels just under the skin, which look unsightly. They occur particularly frequently in women. Some of the larger blue veins can be successfully treated with injections of a chemical to seal them from the inside. This is called sclerotherapy.
TYPICAL TYPES OF THREAD VEINS
- There are several different ways of doing sclerotherapy and several different types of chemical that can be used to inject into veins. The person doing the injections will decide what sort of solution and what strength to use depending on the size of the veins that are to be treated. It is rarely possible to get all the veins to go away in one treatment and several attempts are usually required to get a good result. It is usually advisable to leave at least a two week period between treatments on the same area to allow bruising to settle. Fifty percent of vessels treated at any one session usually disappear.
- It is important that the chemical is injected directly into the vein and not just around the vein (as that can damage the skin). Sometimes practitioners may use viewing aids that help them see the vein better. An example is a ‘venoscope’ pictured below:
 A VENOSCOPE VEIN VIEWER THAT HELPS TO VISUALISE A VEIN BEFORE INJECTION |
After injections the leg is usually wrapped in a firm bandage for several days and then a compression stocking is worn usually for a couple of weeks.
Sclerotherapy can work quite well but there are a number of problems that can occur:
- Initially the veins can look worse when the bandages come off as they are a bit bruised and inflamed.
- Sometimes the veins can also be a bit sore for a while after injections
- Bruising can last anything from two weeks to three months depending on the size of the blood vessels treated. The bruising can look like a brown stain in the skin. It almost always goes away with time but in some cases it takes quite a while to resolve.
- Sometimes sclerotherapy does not work or the veins come back.
- Rarely the injection technique can actually make things worse – some unfortunate patients get a nasty problem called ‘telangectiatic matting’ where lots of tiny little red veins appear in the skin. This is difficult to treat. Fortunately it happens very rarely.
- On rare occasions the injection of chemical can also cause an irritation in the skin that can lead to a small sore or ulcer forming. This will heal but may take a while and can leave a permanent scar.
OTHER TREATMENTS FOR THREAD VEINS
Some of the finer tiny red thread veins which are too tiny to inject can be treated by skin lasers or Intense Pulsed light treatment which is a form of skin laser. Usually it works quite well and is fairly painless. However most patients need several sessions of treatment depending on how many spider veins there are on the leg and the end result that is desired.
After any treatment with a skin laser it is very important to avoid exposure to strong sunlight as this can lead to a nasty bout of skin burning.
AN INTENSE PULSED LIGHT MACHINE
Thread veins on the face can be treated very effectively with machines such as Intense Pulsed light or other types of skin laser. Other techniques are machines such as ‘Veinwave’ which uses microwave energy to make the veins go away.
 THREAD VEINS BEFORE AND AFTER TREATMENT |