What to Expect From a Laser Spider Vein Removal Procedure?
The most important thing that you need to know about laser vein treatment is that the procedure cannot remove varicose veins. It is a laser treatment for spider veins only. These spider veins most commonly appear on the face, arms and legs.
It is the number one recommended treatment for the removal of spider veins and broken capillaries on the face. Varicose vein laser treatment is an intensive procedure different from laser spider vein therapy.
Varicose veins on the legs and arms are simply too large to be removed with a laser. As they are distensions beneath the skin they are usually removed with conventional “cut and stitch” methods of plastic surgery. If you are an individual that has both varicose and spider veins then your plastic surgeon will recommend that you have the varicose veins removed before you consider having the spider veins removed with laser surgery.
This is because varicose veins are dead veins that are very painful and laser surgery on the skin surrounding them can cause all kinds of discomfort and complications. Also, if you treat spider veins without removing the varicose veins first, the spider veins will just return shortly after the treatment.
Another reason to consider removing your varicose veins before you get laser vein treatment is because sometimes the removal of the larger dead veins also causes the spider veins around it to disappear completely as well. This will of course minimize the overall cost of having unsightly varicose veins and spider veins removed.
Laser Spider Vein Removal – Procedure
Lasers that are used on spider veins work in the same way as general lipoplasty. The idea is to target the laser over the affected area and vaporize the tissue. The heat and pulsation from the laser light causes small to medium sized veins to shrink and disappear. In general, a skin surfacing laser is a device that emits short, intense pulses of light.
The skin is removed layer by layer thus lessening the likelihood of lightening of the skin (depigmentation). Laser skin resurfacing is also known as a laser peel, laser vaporization or lasabrasion. Laser vein performs by committing a controlled injury to the skin that causes the veins to vanish and new skin to grow in its place.
Your doctor may also recommend that the surgery be done with an erbium laser. Erbium laser resurfacing was developed to minimize the risk of burning the surrounding tissues.
The benefit of vein removal with erbiam laser resurfacing is that it causes less post-operative side effects such as swelling, bruising and redness caused by inflammation. This laser works best for small areas on the body with minor clusters of spider veins such as the face.
Laser vein treatment is little painful and people who experience it often compare the feeling of the laser buzzing against the skin to hot bacon grease or to a rubber band snapping against the skin. Afterwards you may also feel a burning or stinging sensation that lasts for several days.
One thing to be psychologically prepared for is the appearance of the spider veins immediately after the laser vein treatment. Immediately following the treatment the veins may look darker than usual but this effect usually disappears within a week. It usually takes between six and eight weeks for the spider veins to disappear altogether.
For the most part however, treating spider veins with a laser is a comfortable procedure that does not require sedatives, medications, and narcotics. It usually also does not require an injection of a topical anesthetic unless your tolerance to pain is very low. The procedure usually takes less than a half an hour. However, for this procedure to be most effective, you will need to repeat it at least three times at three-month intervals.
Complications with Laser Spider Vein Removal
Complications of laser vein treatment or rare but some people do experience a phenomena called “matting” where the varicose veins seem to clump up and create an even more involved network of veins beneath the skin. Discolorations of a red, white or blue color can also occur over the treated site.
Skin necrosis (death of tissue) might also occur if the blood flow in the area is not sufficient and somehow the removal of the veins causes the halt of life giving oxygen to other areas of tissue in the treated area.
This cosmetic surgery is a little cost-intensive. The cost of laser vein treatment is usually between $300 and $450 a session. The results of the procedure are considered permanent however; the laser vein removal will not prevent the body from developing new spider veins over time.
Whether your investment in laser vein removal lasts forever might simply be a matter of genetics or lifestyle.
