Spiderman has spider veins. He’s not too concerned about them. But think about it — he wears a suit over his entire body the entire time he’s out fighting crime. The rest of us have to deal with the purple, blue, or red little squiggly lines coursing around just under the surface of our skin. They can make you downright self-conscious about wearing shorts or a bathing suit.
But sclerotherapy with Dr. Lavey can let you say “Sayonara” to those ugly spider veins.
What are spider veins?
In case you were just sitting in the back of your anatomy class writing notes to your friend, your body has arteries and veins to move the blood. The arteries move the oxygenated blood from the heart and lungs to all the areas of the body. The veins return the de-oxygenated blood back to the heart.
But in certain areas of the body like the legs, the blood is fighting gravity in the veins. For this reason, the veins have backflow preventers to keep the blood from moving backwards, keeping it heading for the heart. Plus, the surrounding muscles squeeze the veins, helping them push blood through.
As we age, however, our muscles aren’t as strong and the walls of our veins can become weaker. This can allow the blood to pool in the veins, even to back up in spots. This creates purple, blue, or red veins that are visible through the outer skin.
Getting rid of spider veins
You may see different options for getting rid of spider veins, things like laser therapy or intense pulsed light. Dr. Lavey feels that an old, trusted method — sclerotherapy — is better than these other options for removing spider veins.
In sclerotherapy, Dr. Lavey injects the unwanted vein with a saline, or sometimes another chemical, solution. This solution irritates the walls of the vein, causing them to collapse and shut off the blood. Any blood from the vein is instantly rerouted to another vein. Meanwhile, this vein closes off and over the course of a few months the body eventually absorbs the vein. Now there’s one less squiggly line on your legs!
Want to get rid of your spider veins before the warmer weather? Call Dr. Lavey at 925-820-3633 and ask about sclerotherapy.
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