Spider Veins 101: What You Need to Know About This Common Condition

What Exactly the Spider Veins is?

Thin spindly veins on your legs embody spider appearance either as spider webs or spider leg formations. These ordinary telangiectasias appear as spider veins because of their shape. Skin clusters between the dermis and epidermis frequently show red, blue, or purple veins while remaining visible because they exist near the outer skin surface. Spider veins are present in some patients but show no signs so doctors do not consider them healthy conditions because they usually develop from chronic venous insufficiency.

Why Do Spider Veins Develop?

Most people who reach a viable age will unveil a minimum of two spider veins across their legs. About fifty-five percent of Americans including a larger number of female patients experience damaged veins which can be seen through skin tissue. Your legs contain vital veins that perform the essential function of transporting deoxygenated blood back to the heart before delivery to the lungs for receiving oxygen. After oxygenation, the blood flows from the lungs down to arteries that regurgitate the blood to veins for an additional oxygenation round. The major workload falls on deep veins and is complemented by the work performed by saphenous veins located near the surface of your skin. Due to their exclusive function, the veins need strong valves to seal off after exposing blood to stop the backward flow toward your feet.

Blood collects in the venous system because of improperly closing valves which produce pressure on the walls of these vessels. High vein pressure induces the development of new useless veins that sprout from the overloaded vessel. The tiny branching venous patterns on your lower leg exist only as cosmetic markers since they prevent blood from reaching its intended target route. Your leg veins become overloaded due to blood pressure buildup because of the additional work required for their functions (chronic venous insufficiency). The damaged circulation in patients results in leg heaviness or fatigue symptoms.

 

What Risks Exist for You to Develop Spider Veins?

The presence of spider veins remains common among the following:

• Women and all adults who passed their 30th birthday. 
• The presence of spider veins in both your parents makes spider veins highly likely for your future development. 
• Pregnant women together with people who take birth control or hormone therapy because estrogen levels are higher. Translucent blood vessels become visible when the skin receives injuries or sun damage manifests.
• When staying in a stationary position for long durations at work. 

Do Spider Veins Cause Symptoms?

The primary indicator of spider veins for most people remains the minor pain from new development without additional symptoms. Most patients begin treatments because their spider veins look displeasing to them. Most spider veins develop because of the undesirable symptoms of chronic venous insufficiency. The affected patients typically report:

• Throat-pounding sensations
• Body-aching feelings
• Limb-tensing sensations 
• Leg-fatigue feelings 
• Skin-itching feelings 
• Muscular cramps. 

Very serious venous insufficiency patients encounter prolonged skin symptoms which include non-healing sores, darkened tissues, and inflamed skin.

What Are the Causes of Spider Veins?

An increase in venous pressure functions as the main trigger for spider veins formation. The development of increased pressure involves two mechanisms:

• Venous insufficiency: Weak vein valves allow blood to pool.
• External wall pressure: It originates from injuries.

 The mechanism of intravenous pressure resembles leaked water from a hose pipe under pressure. Blood circulation continues in one direction while specific bluish blood escapes in another direction through the vein walls. Spider veins form as a result of these leaky vascular channels showing through human skin.

What Are the Best Ways to Treat Spider Veins?

Visual treatments for spider veins can be done securely by anyone who selects a board-certified vein doctor. A physical examination combined with your symptom evaluation must start every treatment process. The treatment of spider veins alone without fixing leaky valves will result in the continued formation of new veins. The vein specialists at Vein Center in Arizona confirm spider veins disappear through their elimination of root causes.

• Sclerotherapy

Sclerotherapy represents a preferred method for targeting small spider veins by administering destructive irritants that destroy the veins using either liquid or foam or premixed foam substances. Doctors use the medicine to treat individual vessels through injections as one of the easiest procedures for spider veins.

• Radiofrequency Ablation:

The procedure conducted by vein experts utilizes heat energy to mend the spider vein walls until scar tissue blocks the blood vessel completely. The procedure delivers fast and mild care because doctors apply a numbing solution on the surface while surrounding the vein with tumescent anesthesia. Other ablation procedures such as EVLT generate more bruising and pain than the treatment of radiofrequency ablation does.

• Endоvеnоuѕ Lаѕеr:

EVLT presents patients with a safe and easier alternative to vein surgery since it uses lasers to treat venous insufficiency and spider veins simultaneously. The treatment does not need general anesthesia therefore patients avoid the postoperative effects of hospital visits and surgery recovery time.

How Does Vein Center in Arizona Treat Spider Veins?

From a health standpoint you may not require treatment of spider veins since their absence typically means no disease development. The staff at our vein center in Arizona performs sclerotherapy treatment as a cosmetic procedure on spider veins. Our vein doctors conduct tests to figure out whether spider veins point to serious conditions including blood clots and chronic venous insufficiency and they would perform ultrasound-guided sclerosants and radiofrequency ablation treatment.

Resources:

• American Academy of Dermatology Association. Leg veins: Why they appear and how dermatologists treat them (https://www.aad.org/public/cosmetic/younger-looking/how-dermatologists-treat-leg-veins). Accessed 12/29/2022.
• American Society for Dermatologic Surgery. Spider Veins (https://www.asds.net/skin-experts/skin-conditions/spider-veins). Accessed 12/29/2022.
• Goldman MP. Pathophysiology of Telangiectasias. In: Goldman MP & Weiss RA, eds. Sclerotherapy. 6th ed. Elsevier; 2017.
• Mackay EG. Treatment of Spider Telangiectasias. In: Almeida JI, ed. Atlas of Endovascular Venous Surgery. 2nd ed. Elsevier; 2019.
• U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office on Women’s Health. Varicose Veins and Spider Veins (https://www.womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/varicose-veins-and-spider-veins). Accessed 12/29/2022.
• U.S. National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine. Spider Veins (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563218/). Accessed 12/29/2022.