Leg Spider veins
When the small veins in the legs become dilated and more visible, they are named spider or varicose veins. Small blue or small red veins usually are only a cosmetic problem and can be reduced with sclerotherapy or vascular laser treatments.
If bigger varicose veins are formed and the blood circulation is impaired more
symptoms develop, like heavy legs and edema. Both a clinical evaluation by a vascular
surgeon and an ultrasound doppler must be performed to exclude the need of a surgical intervention
Many skin lesions are generated by blood vessels and are completely benign.
They are called angiomas and their most common types are:
Spider angiomas (broken capillaries or telangiectasia) on the face or the body
(on the legs they are known as varicose or spider veins).
Cherry angioma are harmless lesions made of blood vessels. They are
sometimes incorrectly referred to as ‘red mole’, but they are not pigmented
lesions or moles.
Venous lake is a blue angioma, that appears like a blue nodule on the lip.
Port Wine Stain or PWS also known as Nevus Flammeus or Flat Angioma is a birthmark made out of capillary malformations.
PWS starts as a pink flat stain at birth and tend to become darker (reddish purple) and more raised when growing up. They can appear anywhere on the body but are commonly located in face & neck region. Usually, they are harmless birthmarks but in some cases they can be part of a neurological condition and need further examination and monitoring.
PWS don’t cause problems or pain but they can be disfiguring, especially when
on visible areas. Vascular laser treatments can reduce the PWS and in some cases make them disappear completely.
Usually several sessions are needed, and the sooner the treatment is started the
better. Very small children need to have sedation for laser treatment and are
therefore better treated in a hospital. We do not sedate patients but apply a powerful numbing cream, allowing to treat older children (willing to cooperate) and adults with PWS.