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When they occur on the face, spider
veins may be related to chronic sun exposure or exposure
to extremes of temperature. They tend to occur on either
the nose or cheeks of fair skinned people. These facial
veins can be injected if they are large enough to be
cannulated with a 30 gauge needle.
TREATED BY LASER
Injection treatment is effected by causing localised
clotting of the blood in the facial vein. This generally
leaves the vein looking darker than before, and bruised
and possibly puffy, for up to several weeks. Mostly
this is amenable to covering up with make up. On resolution
the vein will have vanished.
Pain is minimal and fleeting, but it is possible to
use a local anaesthetic cream prior to the procedure
to achieve total abolition of pain. Generally there
are no other side effects but very rarely there have
been other problems reported: Skin reactions which involve
the area injected and are unsightly but not dangerous.
This is uncommon and inconvenient at worst. Allergic
reactions of other kinds.
This is extremely rare, but can include symptoms of
the respiratory systems, or generalised swelling. It
is treated by adrenaline injection and sometimes antihistamines.
Your doctor always has these drugs within easy reach.
There have been very rare cases reported of blockage
of blood vessels not intended to have been blocked,
following injection of facial veins, with impaired function
of the region formerly supplied by those vessels.
However it should be stressed that any of these side
effects other than bruising, darkening and puffiness
are extremely rare. Following treatment it is preferable
that you apply no make up for the remainder of the day.
If make up is unavoidable, choose water based make up,
as oil based make up may encourage infection in the
presence of injection sites.
Often several treatments are required to remove all
the veins. The finer the veins, usually the more sessions
required, but the success rate is generally good. Some
veins are either too small or too resilient to be adequately
treated by sclerotherapy. In this instance it is appropriate
to treat with laser.
In the case of Laser treatment the superficial facial
blood vessels are irritated by placing a small acupuncture
type needle against the skin for only milliseconds,
delivering a tiny electric charge to the blood vessel.
This causes a swelling which collapses the vessel walls.
Local anaesthetic cream is applied prior to the procedure,
therefore pain is minimal, but some heat sensation may
be felt at the time of the procedure. The cream should
be applied at least half an hour before treatment and
covered with pieces of plastic wrap. After ninety minutes
it begins to lose its effectiveness.
Immediately following the procedure you may feel as
though you have mild sunburn. An ice pack will help
to reduce the associated redness, swelling or discomfort,
as will some pharmacy preparations. Very superficial
crusting may occur over the treated area. Avoid any
temptation to pick at this crusting, as scarring may
result.
The area usually heals fully within 5 - 7 days. Do
not apply makeup, even oil free makeup, at all for 48
hours. Transient pigmentation can occur and a fading
cream can be used to counteract this side effect.
Most people see an improvement immediately, although
it can take up to 3 months before the full effect of
the treatment is realised. Larger vessels may require
repeat treatment. |
