Spider Vein Prevention and Treatment
As is typical with many problems, prevention is easier than treatment. You’ll want to pay close attention to risk factors such as age, heredity, and hormone levels. There’s probably very little you can do if you are predisposed to spider veins, but you can minimize behaviors that assist their development. Try to avoid work which will consistently keep you standing on your feet, or lifting heavy objects- particularly if you notice any signs of developing spider and/or varicose veins.
For facial spider veins, you should always make sure you avoid long instances of exposure to the sun. Avoid irritating your skin and treat any inflammation immediately.
Various Spider Vein Treatments
Vitamin K cream
Among the most common so-called treatments of spider veins is vitamin K cream. Despite its prevalence, it seems to do little to reduce the appearance of spider veins. Vitamin K is used as a clotting agent but since spider veins are enlarged rather than ruptured, there’s actually no clotting.
Oral or Topical Vessel Strengtheners
You may want to consider a topical or oral vessel strengthening agent. It is thought that by strengthening vessels, you can prevent or even reduce spider veins. The problem with vessel strengtheners is that they’ve not been studied to enough to know what, if any, effectiveness they have on spider veins; whether they’re more effective topically or orally; and what the optimal dose is. Still, there is evidence that some agents have other skin and health benefits, so for many people that may be reason enough to try them.
For spider veins that are well-developed, there is little that can be done with topical or oral treatments. In that instance, a person must decide if having unsightly but largely harmless spider veins is really worth the trouble of a more costly procedure.
Laser Removal
Some people may elect to have their spider veins removed with a laser. Laser treatment is a scientifically sound and effective way of removing spider veins. Once laser treatment is performed, the dilated vessels normally fade and often completely disappear. Laser treatment is also nice because it doesn’t require injections or incisions.
It does have a few caveats though. Some people don’t respond to treatment or do respond only after several treatments and the results may not always be permanent. There may also be some tenderness and bruising to the affected area after treatment. Also, laser treatment is normally only effective on very small areas and is more effective on facial spider veins than leg spider veins. It is not effective on large widespread areas where the capillaries fail to shrink or can dilate again after a short time.
Sclerotherapy
A more radical therapy which is far more effective on larger areas is sclerotherapy, which involves injecting a chemical agent into the vein to cause it to close. This type of procedure is often used to treat varicose veins as well medium to large spider veins. If used effectively sclerotherapy works over 80% of the time.
Side effects of sclerotherapy are rare, but may include an allergic reaction, ulceration, tissue death or prolonged discoloration of the skin in the treated area. Other more minor side effects, such as bruising and itching, are common but go away after a short time.