Spring is here, and summer is on the way. With the warmer weather comes shorter skirts and dresses and capri pants and shorts. If you have unsightly spider veins, they may have you covering up instead of letting your legs shine.
At Balboa Medical Center & Spa in Encino, California, Dr. Amir Raeesy and our care team understand how self-conscious spider veins can make anyone feel — especially in the skin-baring months of spring and summer. Our practice offers many aesthetic services to help you look and feel your best — including banishing spider veins with the power of light.
Most treatments for spider veins involve harsh chemicals injected into your delicate veins, but we’re proud to offer a less invasive solution that doesn’t use solutions or needles: non-invasive laser light treatment. Read on to learn more.
Why do I have spider veins?
Spider veins are the tiny lines that show through the surface of your skin, usually as spider-like red, blue, or purple lines. While it’s possible to have spider veins anywhere on your body, they appear most often on the legs, ankles, and feet, and at least 60% of Americans have spider veins at some point in their life.
These veins are small capillaries that have one-way valves to regulate your blood flow and keep it moving in the right direction. When the valve breaks, blood gets trapped inside the small capillary, causing it to swell.
Since these swollen veins are just under the surface of your skin, they show through as unsightly lines. Researchers are studying why some people get spider veins and some don’t, but they do know that risk factors increase your odds of getting spider veins, including:
- Being female
- Having chronic constipation
- Family history of spider veins
- Work that requires a lot of standing (e.g., a teacher)
- Pregnancy
- Hormonal fluctuations
- Being overweight or obese
- Having sun damage to your skin
Your risk of developing spider veins also increases with a history of blood clots or if you’ve experienced trauma to your leg, ankle, or foot.
How can light help eliminate spider veins?
Spider veins don’t always require medical intervention. Before beginning any treatment, your provider at Balboa Medical Center & Spa meets with you to discuss your symptoms. Once all of your medical information and symptoms are reviewed, our team creates a customized treatment plan.
If you have mild or very light spider veins, your provider may recommend using compression stockings or making lifestyle changes, such as losing weight or getting regular exercise. For moderate or severe spider veins, we may recommend treatment with the IconTM Aesthetic Laser System.
This non-invasive treatment uses light energy to gently heat your spider veins, destroying the affected veins. The treatment is pain-free and can be used to treat spider veins without injections or veins that are too small for treatment with needles.
Your body reroutes the blood to your healthy veins in the surrounding area, and over time your body’s natural healing and waste removal processes kick in, reabsorbing the damaged veins and disposing of them with other cellular waste.
Most patients require more than one session to achieve their desired results. Dr. Raeesy or your Balboa Medical Center & Spa provider recommends the best number of treatments for you. Most patients benefit from 3-6 laser sessions.
Ready to say goodbye to spider veins? Contact the team at Balboa Medical Center & Spa in Encino, California, or request an appointment online now.