Nikki Sommer, a nurse with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5 FM for Medical Matters this morning.
Spider veins can affect a lot of people.
Sommer said, “They’re those little red lines. Sometimes you get them on your face. They’re affiliated, associated with rosacea and you get them on your legs. They’re all over my legs. I look like a spiderweb of veins on my legs.”
They can also be on the lips, nose, eyes, fingers and cheeks.
Can they be uncomfortable?
Sommer said, “Some of mine are I mean, speaking personally, I can’t say that about everybody. But it’s more I think aesthetic displeasing, people don’t like the way they look. A lot of women won’t put shorts on or skirts because they feel self conscious about the way their legs look with the veins.”
What are the symptoms?
Sommer said, “They can cause pain and then also you can have other venous disease like deeper, bigger veins, that can be painful as well. Itching and they’re like thread like red marks are patterns on the skin. And they can bruise easy if you bump them, like if you bump that area. I’ve had that happen to me and I have a very big bruise with ugly veins.”
What are the causes of spider veins?
Sommer said, “People who drink a lot of alcohol, they’re more susceptible to the veins on the face. It affects the blood flow of the vessels and can cause liver disease and it’s really due from pressure. Pregnancy unfortunately, because you double your volume when you pregnant, it’s just an increased pressure throughout the body, you’re more susceptible to forming spider veins and then as we age, it’s just more common because the blood vessels begin to weaken. The older you get, the more veins you get. Rosacea, those are enlarged little veins on your face and it usually creates a flushing appearance in the cheeks and the nose. That is also very self conscious to a lot of people. Kind of like melisma, it falls in that same thing, especially for women because women or men, you always look flushed. So if you get really red, and bright, so a lot of times like for women, they’re always trying to find makeup to cover that up.”
Corticosteroids may also weaken your skin.
Sommer said, “It’s steroids, prednisone. The creams can thin out your skin, like if you constantly have a rash, or if you need to take a lot of oral steroids, over time they weaken your skin, and they make you bruise easily. So again, it puts a little pressure on your vessels.”
Scleroderma dermatophytosis can also increase your chances of spider veins.
Sommer said it’s “inflammation to the skin, lupus, they’re autoimmune disorders, so they just increase your risk of forming these little veins.”
One treatment is laser therapy and Key West Surgical Group has the Elite iQ that can help.
Sommer said, “We had training on it yesterday. So it’s very interesting, the laser kind of zaps the vessel and what it does is it kind of causes a little coagulation and causes it to collapse. So usually one to two treatments, maybe a couple more, depending on how many, they do have different sizes. I mean, if they’re really big and bulgy, we cannot treat it with laser. This is more for the flat, pink and purple veins that are in your skin. If they are kind of elevated or raised or bumpy, that’s an indication that something more is going on.”
Surgery can treat them in severe cases.
Sommer said, “You can have surgery which has been known to be very painful. The other option is sclera therapy, which we do also, where you inject the little tiny veins with a solution and it causes them to collapse.”
The PicoSure laser, which Key West Surgical Group also has can remove tattoos.
Sommer said, “Check out our Facebook page because I posted a lot of pictures of tattoo removal. Right now that seems to be the biggest trend, but it’s a pretty good before and afters with treatment with the PicoSure. We can erase those mistakes or bad memories from your body and your mind.”
For more information, click here: https://www.keywestsurgicalgroup.com/