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Do Spider Veins Come Back After Laser Treatment? And Other FAQs
Do spider veins come back after laser treatment?
Do spider veins come back after laser treatment? That’s one of the first questions that most patients ask when they consider spider vein treatments. Laser treatment, also known as laser therapy, is a non-invasive spider vein treatment that involves using laser energy to remove unhealthy spider veins from the skin’s surface. But laser therapy is generally considered to be an incredibly unreliable spider vein treatment because it fails to address the root cause of spider veins, leading to a high rate of recurrence.
Below, we discuss why spider veins often come back after laser therapy and the ideal treatment process to prevent the recurrence of spider veins.
Spider veins are usually indicative of venous insufficiency
Let’s start with a brief introduction to spider veins and their root causes. Spider veins are dense clusters of damaged blood vessels usually visible underneath the skin’s surface. They look like a dense mass of spider webs or the thin legs of spiders. Spider veins are essentially damaged blood vessels with a high volume of accumulated blood, which may happen because of an underlying medical condition known as chronic venous insufficiency.
Chronic venous insufficiency is the primary root cause of most vein problems, including spider veins. This is a medical condition caused by the collapse of vein valves, the mechanisms responsible for ensuring smooth, one-way blood circulation to the heart against the force of gravity. When your vein valves collapse or malfunction, blood flows backward due to gravity and accumulates in the leg veins. The continued accumulation of blood in leg veins leads to spider veins and varicose veins.
Laser therapy only addresses the visible spider veins — not the underlying chronic venous insufficiency
Laser therapy is a non-invasive spider vein treatment commonly offered in medical spas or dermatology practices. Laser therapy is a safe, painless procedure that involves delivering highly-calibrated wavelengths of light energy into the damaged spider veins. The light energy enters the spider veins and destroys the vein walls, facilitating their gradual absorption by the body. But you need several sessions to make the unhealthy spider veins disappear — each session only provides mild benefits or results.
Laser therapy is generally offered at medical spas because it doesn’t have to be performed by vein doctors. This procedure may provide mild improvements, but there’s a high risk of the spider veins returning. That’s because laser therapy doesn’t address the root cause of spider veins — chronic venous insufficiency. And since laser therapy isn’t always performed by certified vein doctors, you might not even realize if you have underlying vein disease.
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Sclerotherapy is the ideal alternative to laser therapy
Sclerotherapy is widely considered the best treatment for spider veins. Sclerotherapy involves injecting a specialized sclerosant chemical into the unhealthy spider veins. The sclerosant medicine irritates the spider veins’ walls, turning them into hardened scar tissues gradually reabsorbed by the body. Over time, your body metabolizes the spider veins, and they fade away from the skin’s surface. The results gradually appear over 3 weeks.
Sclerotherapy ensures optimal results. Furthermore, sclerotherapy is performed by vein doctors who are better equipped to identify the signs and symptoms of vein disease. If your vein doctor diagnoses chronic venous insufficiency, they might also provide radiofrequency ablation, endovenous laser ablation, or venaseal treatment before sclerotherapy — these procedures treat underlying vein disease and minimize the risk of spider vein recurrence.
Our medical center for vein treatment in Maryland ensures long-lasting results, minimizing the risk of vein disease recurrence
Maryland Vein Treatment is a state-of-the-art medical center specializing in cutting-edge spider vein treatments in Maryland. Our vein doctors always examine your leg veins, discuss your symptoms, review your medical history, and administer venous ultrasound scans to determine if you have chronic venous insufficiency. After a thorough diagnosis, our vein doctors curate a personalized, minimally invasive vein treatment plan that ensures optimal results with minimal risk of vein disease recurrence.
Maryland Vein Treatment is ideal for patients in and around the National Capital Region. Our medical center for vein treatment is located at 10215 Fernwood Rd, Suite 301, Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC, in Silver Spring. Please schedule an appointment for your spider vein treatment in Maryland.
Can varicose veins return after treatment?
Varicose veins are puffy blood vessels with a high volume of accumulated blood, usually symptomatic of advanced chronic venous insufficiency. During your varicose vein treatments, our vein doctors will identify and treat underlying chronic venous insufficiency, following which they will remove the superficial varicose veins. We always diagnose and treat underlying vein disease to minimize the risk of varicose vein recurrence. Our considered and comprehensive approach to varicose vein treatment minimizes the risk of varicose veins returning.
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How long does spider vein treatment last?
Sclerotherapy spider vein treatment produces permanent results. Once the unhealthy spider veins are destroyed, they can’t return. However, depending on your unique condition and whether your vein doctor diagnoses and treats the root cause, you may develop new spider veins. Our vein doctors always perform comprehensive spider vein treatments — we diagnose and treat the root cause of spider veins, not just the symptoms. Our spider vein treatment ensures optimal and long-lasting results.
How long for spider veins to disappear after laser treatment?
After sclerotherapy spider vein treatment, the unhealthy spider veins may fade away within three weeks. The spider veins will look darker and harder after the treatment because they turn into scar tissues, but they’ll soon fade away when your body metabolizes the scar tissues. As such, spider veins usually seem to worsen before getting better.
