If you’ve always assumed that spider veins only appear on your legs, think again. Unfortunately, they can appear anywhere on your body — even your face.
Dr. Eric Mai and our team at STL Vein and Cosmetics have helped many of our patients grapple with the challenge of visible spider veins on their noses, foreheads, cheeks, and other areas of their faces.
We believe in providing you with the best in advanced care and education about your condition. Then we customize a treatment plan for you. Our treatments are minimally invasive, and your comfort and safety are our top priorities.
When you visit our office seeking relief for spider veins on your face, one of the first things Dr. Mai does is determine the type of spider vein you have.
Telangiectasias are red veins that are quite small, while varicose veins (veins dilated with too much blood) show up on your face as blue. You may be plagued with both types, or just one.
Other types exist too, including cherry angiomas, which look more like moles, and groups of dilated blood vessels that form visible webs below your skin called spider angiomas.
At STL Vein and Cosmetics, we know it’s frustrating, but often the cause of spider veins can’t be traced to something specific. There are numerous possible contributors that cause blood vessels to break and dilate, and most often, a combination of factors fuel an outbreak. These include:
What may surprise you is that what really fuels the blossoming of spider veins is a genetic predisposition to them. Environmental factors can play a role too in exacerbating spider veins: drastic weather changes, sun exposure, steroid use, and imbibing too much alcohol, to name a few.
The skin condition rosacea manifests in a way that’s similar to spider veins, so the two conditions can be confused, leading to misdiagnosis.
Though some facial spider veins disappear on their own — for instance, those acquired during pregnancy or resulting from injury — some stay for good.
Our patients are often open with us about how these veins affect their self-esteem. And let’s face it: Like them, you’d probably love to skip concealing them with makeup and just stop thinking about them.
We’re happy to report that, yes, there are treatments that successfully eradicate your facial spider veins. When you visit either of our St Louis offices, Dr. Mai first discusses your medical history, and how and when your spider veins first showed up.
Then he closely examines your veins in order to ascertain what exact type or types you’re living with and considers their size. These factors greatly inform his treatment plan for you.
If you’re plagued by very small telangiectasias, Dr. Mai typically advises targeted topical laser therapy treatment. During treatment, we deliver laser energy via a small handheld device to your affected blood vessels. The blood in the vessels soaks up the energy and the vessels become heated, after which they collapse and become invisible.
Dr. Mai takes a different approach if your facial veins are larger: sclerotherapy. This FDA-approved treatment requires no anesthesia and is commonly used on leg veins. It involves injecting a chemical solution directly into the vein that injures it, causing it to swell, collapse, and die.
You might wonder where the destroyed vessel goes after that. It simply reabsorbs into your body naturally. When he creates your customized treatment plan, Dr. Mai bases his recommendations for how many treatment sessions you should receive on the number and size of your problem veins.
Our patients are usually surprised at how thin the sclerotherapy treatment needle is. This makes treatment more comfortable, though it’s not without any discomfort. When you receive the injection, you might feel a mild pinch, followed by a brief warmth or burning sensation as the sclerosant enters the vessel, but it’s not severe.
Dr. Mai guides you confidently through the treatment decision and is always open to address your questions and concerns. Typically, our patients need a series of sclerotherapy treatments, so we recommend a schedule that’s best suited for you.
No matter which treatment you receive, each is safe, brief, requires no post-treatment downtime, and renders your spider veins out of sight and out of mind.
If you’ve had it with trying to cover up the spider veins on your face, contact one of our St. Louis, Missouri, offices to schedule a consultation. We also offer telehealth appointments when appropriate.
