How Laser Therapy Can Banish Those Spider Veins

Blue, red, and purple are lovely to look at in your garden, but on your legs? No way. Unsightly spider veins also come in these colors and are most unwelcome.

Most people with spider veins don’t have any uncomfortable symptoms, although these tiny, damaged blood vessels sometimes cause burning, itching, or leg fatigue. Spider veins are visible because they hang out right under the surface of your skin, and we most often see them on legs and faces.

Dr. Sharon Gertzman uses laser therapy to treat spider veins innovatively and successfully. She identifies your goals and creates a treatment plan designed specifically for you. She’s always ready to listen, answer your questions, and approach your care sensitively.

Why do spider veins appear?

Spider veins emerge when your skin experiences a trauma, like a bump or other injury, but other factors can also contribute to their development, including:

• Hormonal changes
• Having work that requires you to sit or stand for long periods
• Living with obesity
• Specific genetic syndromes,  autoimmune diseases, and connective tissue diseases 
• Sun exposure
• Getting older, and especially prevalent when you’re 80 years of age or older

Some diseases linked with spider veins are rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma, which causes external and internal scarring, and rosacea.

Women are at much higher risk for developing spider veins — over 50% of women get them at some point.

An important fact is that spider veins are different from varicose veins. The latter represent a much more serious medical problem, while spider veins primarily pose a cosmetic concern. Varicose veins bulge outward and can lead to the formation of a life-threatening blood clot (deep vein thrombosis).

There is an effective treatment for spider veins

Fortunately, if you’re distressed by your spider veins and they’re affecting your self-esteem, there’s help here at Serenity Medical Spa. Dr. Gertzman offers progressive laser therapy to banish them for good. In fact, she can even treat the most minute spider veins (we know they’re not “tiny” to you), as well as those that get to be  0.5 centimeters in diameter.

Dr. Gertzman treats each vein with a handheld laser device. The light wavelength it emits targets your blood vessel’s lining. The treatment causes it to become inflamed, making the blood vessel's sides stick together, so blood can’t flow through it anymore — it’s effectively “closed for business.” Your body eventually absorbs the unnecessary vein. 

The number of treatments you need depends on the size and quantity of your spider veins. We can remove some veins entirely with a single treatment session, while others may take several.
Aftercare is essential when you have laser-treated your spider veins. Following your session, Dr. Gertzman recommends that you refrain from exercising, drinking alcohol, and even eating spicy foods for 72 hours because these activities can potentially push blood back into the treated vessel. 

To prevent spider veins in the future, try to take breaks and walk around periodically if you sit or stand a lot at your job, don’t smoke, and don’t wear tight clothing that can limit your blood flow. 

Elevating your legs for half an hour daily can help prevent spider veins from forming, as can exercising regularly and staying within a healthy weight range. Wearing compression stockings can also discourage spider vein formation.

If you need spider vein treatment, Serenity Medical Spa has you covered. Call our Pennington office at 609-891-3188 to make an appointment with Dr. Gertzman to discuss laser treatment or request one online.