Spider veins – more than just skin-deep
If you are troubled by the unappealing clusters of blue and purple lines on the legs and face, fret no longer. You are not alone – and there is a simple way to get rid of them.
Using a technique called injection sclerotherapy, doctors are able to clear more than 90 per cent of spider veins in less than one hour and without anaesthesia.
This treatment involves injecting chemicals to constrict the spider veins, effectively blocking further blood accumulation. The treated spider veins will get reabsorbed and disappear.
Spider veins are enlarged veins near the surface of the skin that are caused by the deterioration of their valves. Valves in spider veins work to channel blood against gravity and up towards the heart. Hence, when they start to weaken, blood leaks, flows backwards and accumulates in the veins. Over time, the veins widen and start to become visible, forming what we see on the surface as spider veins.
More than 50 per cent of women suffer from spider veins. Aggravating factors include genetic disposition, pregnancy and prolonged standing.
Their appearance can cause much distress to women, who have to go to lengths to conceal the discolouration. The good news is, there is a way to eliminate more than 90 per cent of spider veins – by injection sclerotherapy.
Injection sclerotherapy
Done in an outpatient setting, injections using a very fine needle delivers chemicals that kills the spider veins almost immediately. The chemicals causes the veins to spasm and subsequently, close off. Blood is no longer trapped in those spider veins, and the purple discolouration therefore fades away, restoring normal skin appearance once more.
The procedure can be done in about 30 minutes in the clinic, without anaesthesia and leaves behind no unsightly scars.
But it’s not just about vanity. Spider veins may be a precursor to the more serious varicose veins. Varicose veins are essentially the larger version of spider veins, with vein diameter of more than 3mm. Spider veins have a diameter of less than 1mm.
Varicose veins, if left untreated, may lead to troublesome complications such as leg ulcers – a condition that is much harder to reverse. For instance, leg ulcers often require months of treatment before they can be healed.
For large bulgy varicose veins, THE VEIN CLINIC uses the latest Endovenous Latest Treatment method to get rid of all the varicose veins without the need for incision, anesthesia or hospitalization.
Dr. John Tan
Consultant Vascular Surgeon
THE VEIN CLINIC
290 Orchard Road #11-08 Paragon Singapore 238859
www.theveinclinic.com.sg
Email: drjohntan@gmail.com
By Poon Chian Hui