A “web” of dilated superficial blood vessels, the so-called “capillaries”. These are teleangectasies, a clearly visible aesthetic defect that can create discomfort for those who develop them. The defect, however, can be improved or resolved with a treatment called sclerotherapy: “It only takes a few sessions to perform this treatment, absolutely painless, which helps close the dilated capillaries”, recalls Dr. Elisa Casabianca, vascular surgeon of Humanitas.
Branched grids of different color
The legs and thighs are the point where you can often see the presence of teleangectasias: “They form an arborescent network of superficial veins with a caliber that hovers around the millimeter and can assume a different coloring: bluish and purple, when it is the largest dilated capillaries or marc color; bright red, when the vessels are thinner,” explained the specialist.
Teleangectasies are not a real disease and are not associated with symptoms per se, but their presence should not be underestimated: “These dilated blood vessels may be the indicator of venous insufficiency, a condition characterized by a difficult venous return of blood. It is therefore useful to undergo an ecocolordoppler, an ultrasound study to assess the health of large surface vessels and saphenous. In fact, when there is a venous insufficiency at the base, it must be treated first, otherwise it would incur early relapses after sclerotherapy treatment”.
Micro needles to close the capillaries
Without the presence of varicose veins and venous insufficiency, it is possible to undergo a treatment to eliminate teleangectasias: “The treatment indicated is sclerotherapy: it consists in the injection of a liquid into the capillaries that irritates the walls of the blood vessels, which, finally, leads to the closure of the capillaries with consequent elimination.
Sclerotherapy is performed in the clinic, with a series of injections with tiny and very thin, sub-millimeter needles. In any case, we are talking about medical treatment, not aesthetic treatment, which involves infusion of drugs with sclerosing substances. It should therefore be carried out by an angiologist or by a vascular surgeon. The individual undergoes several sessions, a few weeks apart. The result is not immediate, but it is appreciable after about three weeks. This is because the injections irritate the capillaries, making the teleangectasies even more evident, but then they close again and the branched lattices disappear. That’s why we tend to do the treatment in the winter or spring months, when the weather is cool and we still cover our legs,” said Dr. Casabianca.
Although the result is definitive, the subject could go back to the specialist for a new cycle of sclerotherapy but not to treat the same teleangectasies: “The closed capillaries no longer dilate; however, if there is a tendency of the veins to dilate and to surface, new teleangectasias could appear,” concluded Dr. Casabianca.
