Spider Veins in Woman and Home

Summer Health Edition – ‘Feel Good You’

The special seasonal issue of Woman and Home contains a feature on spider veins.

These red (also blue or purplish) thin lines can appear on the legs, usually around the thighs. They’re not a medical problem, but definitely cause aesthetic concerns, as the article explains:

“If your shorts are getting longer every year in an attempt to hide your legs, perhaps you’re plagued by spider veins.”

Many women and men are troubled by the appearance of these lines, which are even more noticeable in summer when it is warm and shorter clothing is worn.

Dr Ross Perry

Cosmedics Skin Clinics’ founder Dr Ross Perry explained:

“Using make-up to conceal the veins is the best home care solution”

A range of products is available to disguise thread veins. Some are essentially make-up – basically a heavyweight foundation for legs.  Others have ingredients which are claimed to potentially reduce the appearance of veins (e.g. vitamin K, Japanese Pagoda Tree, Horse Chestnut, Butcher’s Broom or Grape Seed Extract). Results vary and some have no evidence of good results. Vitamin K is generally considered to be the best, since it is proven to work as a topical cream to heal bruising; but it needs to be at least 5% concentration to have any impact.

Treating Thread Veins

Rather than cover them up or apply expensive creams, many patients would prefer to have a treatment to deal with the veins themselves. Sclerotherapy is a straightforward treatment which does just that. Dr Perry continues:

“For legs the best treatment is injection sclerotherapy – where a sugary solution is injected into the vein.”

The solution works inside the vein to destroy it and it will then simply disappear, no longer being visible at the skin’s surface.

Thread Vein Treatment London

Sclerotherapy treatment is available at Cosmedics Skin Clinics’ Thread Vein Treatment Centres based in London.