How to Deal with Facial Spider Veins

When most people talk about spider veins, they instantly picture tiny veins popping up on their thighs or abdominal region.  The truth is your face is actually one of the most common places spider veins appear.  While there is rarely a medical reason to deal with facial spider veins (also referred to as telangiectasia) most people still want to treat them for cosmetic purposes.  In most cases, they appear on the nose, cheeks, or chin.

What Causes Spider Veins to Appear on Your Face?

Facial spider veins appear when the small veins in your face become blocked or twisted.  This is most often a result of poor circulation or other abnormality.  The skin on your face is relatively thin compared to most other areas of your body, yet it deals with some of the most intense wear on a daily basis.  Constant exposure to the sun and harsh weather can quickly lead to facial spider veins.  The other two primary causes are age and gender.  People become more prone to spider veins once they surpass the age of 50, although you may suffer from them at any age.  Additionally, women are nearly 4 times as likely to have them as men – although this includes the entire body, not just the face.

Potential Treatments for Spider Veins on Your Face

There are several different things you can do to reduce or eliminate the appearance of spider veins on your face.  The most well-known treatment is sclerotherapy.  This treatment is one of the most reliable.  Sclerotherapy involves injecting the spider veins with a chemical solution which will cause the vein to seal shut and prevents blood flow.  Once this happens, the vein will turn into the scar tissue and fade away.

A variety of laser skin treatments is also being used to treat spider veins on the face.  Laser treatments primarily geared towards improving overall skin health can be beneficial for spider veins; however, the results are not always reliable.  Over time, the spider veins may reappear until the blood supply is shut off permanently.  This is why pulsed light therapies, which create a blast of heat and thermal damage to the target area, are much more effective.  It will actually cauterize the damaged veins which reduce redness almost immediately.

As an added bonus, these laser treatments can provide additional benefits to your skin as well.  Along with reducing redness, they often stimulate collagen production which strengthens and improves the look and texture of your skin.

An extreme approach is a surgery.  Rarely is surgery a good option to treat spider veins on the face, although if every other treatment has failed it is an option worth looking into.  In most cases, much less invasive options, particularly sclerotherapy will be a better alternative.

What Should You Do?

Deciding how to treat spider veins varies on a case-by-case basis.  Most people will likely turn to sclerotherapy because it is currently the most reliable option.  The best way to find out which treatment will be best for you is by talking to a cosmetic dermatologist.  They will discuss all of your options with you and answer any additional questions you may have.