1. Visit a Vein and Pain Treatment Clinic to Assess Risk Factors
The first step in preventing spider veins is visiting a vein doctor to assess your risk factors. Spider veins and varicose veins are common, and not always preventable. For instance, genetics, aging, gender, and hormones contribute to spider veins. But there are many contributing factors that can be minimized with your vein specialist’s input. When you know your risks, you can take steps to minimize them. Book an appointment with our Harvard-trained vein doctors to learn how to prevent spider veins. Below are some common risk factors.
Factors That Increase the Risk of Developing Spider Veins:
- Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI)
- Family history of spider veins or CVI
- Aging
- Female gender
- Hormone replacement therapy
- Pregnancy
- Birth control usage
- Menopause
- Obesity
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Jobs that require sitting or standing for long periods
- Sun damage
- Smoking
- Significant alcohol or caffeine intake
- Exposure to harsh climates
- Excessive exertion or physical strain
- Some medications
- Certain diseases and skin conditions
2. Make Changes to Minimize Spidery Lines on Legs
Once you consult our award-winning vein doctors, you’ll know which risk factors to address. For example, if your job requires long periods of sitting (commercial drivers, data specialists, administrative workers) or long periods of standing (teachers, healthcare workers, restaurant staff), our doctors will provide tips to enhance your circulation while at work.
If weight loss or exercise is needed, we’ll connect you with experts in that field. And if hormones, sun damage, or weather are involved, we’ll teach you how to minimize these effects. We’ll also identify what’s causing your spider veins and determine whether you need vein treatment for them or for the underlying cause.
3. Address the Different Causes of Facial and Body Veins
When spider veins develop in facial and body veins, the causes may be the same. One of the most common is Chronic Venous Insufficiency. This condition involves valve failure in the vein that allows blood to flow in reverse. This pressurizes the vein, causing tiny veins to branch out from it. These are spider veins.
CVI is most common in leg veins because they must pump blood from the feet all the way to the heart, and they’re pumping against gravity. This makes valve failure and backward blood flow more likely. CVI and spider veins are easy to treat at our California vein centers. Facial spider veins can also stem from valve failure. But they might also result from things like sun damage and skin injury. Squeezing pimples and using harsh exfoliants can cause broken blood vessels. Facial skin is thinner than the skin on the legs, so facial veins are more easily injured by external forces than leg veins are.
Since vein damage has multiple causes, you need to address each one that puts you at risk. For facial veins, sunscreen, a wide-brimmed hat at the beach, and gentle cosmetic routines are advised. For leg veins, maintain an active lifestyle, elevate your legs after a long period of inactivity, and wear compression stockings if your doctor recommends them. For all types of vein damage, the quickest and most permanent solution is to treat spider veins with a minimally invasive vein treatment.
4. Take Steps to Prevent New Tiny Veins from Forming
The best tactic for how to prevent spider veins is to treat the underlying cause. For many patients, this is CVI, which is treated with minimally invasive techniques. Our vein specialists use ultrasound-guided procedures to eliminate faulty vein valves and reroute blood into healthy veins, so it can flow back to your heart efficiently.
These treatments take 15-30 minutes, require no general anesthesia or surgery, and have no downtime involved. Patients often treat both their spider veins and their CVI within their lunch break and head back to work!
If CVI is not the cause, we’ll determine what is, and select the right treatment accordingly. For facial spider veins caused by sun damage, a surface laser or sclerotherapy treatment might work best. For leg veins, radiofrequency ablation, vein adhesives, mechanochemical ablation, or endovenous laser ablation are additional options. Each of these is quick and gentle and performed right in our office. No stitches, hospitalization, or recovery time are required!
5. Ask How Much Is a Varicose Vein Treatment vs DIY Methods
If you’re avoiding spider or varicose vein treatment because you’re wary of the cost, you’ll appreciate this news. Varicose and spider vein treatment are covered by most insurance plans, including Medicare. The key is to choose a vein doctor, not a dermatologist or cosmetic specialist. Those practitioners use treatments that insurance companies deem elective. Vein doctors use FDA-approved medical procedures that insurance carriers recognize.
Our vein doctors also provide images that prove why treatment is necessary. Spider veins might look like superficial issues, but their cause is often in deeper veins. Vein disease produces swelling, cramping, restless sleep, and many additional symptoms that limit your productivity. Rather than life-long symptom management, resolve your spider veins within minutes at our renowned California vein centers.
6. Consider Sclerotherapy or Laser Leg Vein Removal Near Me
Sclerotherapy, laser treatment, endovenous laser ablation, radiofrequency ablation, mechanochemical ablation, and vein adhesives are quick and gentle ways to remove spider veins without surgically removing them. For instance, sclerotherapy injects a chemical into the vein that prompts it to close.
These procedures seal off faulty veins so blood flows into adjacent veins. They remove spider veins from circulation and sight, without incisions or extractions. Surgery is no longer required for spider veins or most varicose veins. New treatments remove veins simply and painlessly.
7. Use the Right Laser: Varicose Veins vs Stretch Marks
Choose a board certified vein doctor to get your procedure covered by insurance, and also to ensure the right treatment. There are two ways to use lasers for veins: surface laser treatments like IPL, and inserted laser treatments like EVLA. These lasers aren’t the same as those used for stretch marks and other cosmetic issues.
Surface lasers for veins heat the blood inside the vein. Endovenous lasers heat the vein’s walls. And fractional lasers for stretch marks heat the skin. Select vein doctors over other dermatological specialists to receive the right procedure.
8. Choose a Leg and Vein Clinic Near Me for Dead Veins & CVI
Be sure to choose a vein doctor that treats both spider veins and CVI. Spider veins are sometimes referred to as “dead veins,” because they’re a dead end for your circulation. Blood flows into them from an overburdened vein, rather than flowing efficiently to the heart.
Select a board certified vein specialist who eliminates those dead-end veins and also the problem that causes them. In California, those vein doctors are Dr. Billy Schoenfeld, Dr. Jasmine Koo, Dr. Carly Guthrie, Dr. Walter Lech, and Dr. Amanda Steinberger.