Having talked about permanent hair removal and about how to have beautiful, smooth skin, we cannot leave out varicose veins, venectasias and facial telangiectasias.
Having talked about permanent hair removal and about how to have beautiful, smooth skin, we cannot leave out varicose veins, venectasias and facial telangiectasias – in other words the vascular problems that, as we all know, become more pronounced over the summer.
Varicose veins, a condition of the venous system of the legs, are a very widespread complaint, which on the one hand does aesthetic harm and on the other brings significant functional complications (swollen calves, thrombophlebitis, ulcers).
You may have wondered at some point why and when the broken vessels and the blue, winding veins on your calves appeared. It feels as though only yesterday you had smooth legs with slender, delicate ankles, and today your legs are swollen with visible vessels, and your shoes are too small by the evening. You may not know it, but the excessive load on the superficial venous system has particular causes, namely: genetic inheritance (in 90% of cases), pregnancy, standing for long periods, intense physical effort, and certain sports (athletics, tennis and so on); it can also be encouraged by waxing with hot wax, baths that are too hot, prolonged sun exposure, sitting at a desk for long stretches with the legs hanging down, obesity, smoking and too much coffee.
So if you know you are prone to varicose veins, there are a few useful pieces of advice to bear in mind, none of them hard to follow:
• Take up sports that work the muscle pump (cycling, brisk walking, swimming)
• Stand with your feet in salt water (at the seaside, or simply dissolve salt in your bath water)
• Eat healthily and in a balanced way, and make an effort to lose any extra weight
• Avoid uncomfortable footwear, high heels and rigid platforms
• At work, get up from your desk now and then for a few exercises
• At home, watch television with your legs raised above the level of your body.
With varicose veins there is no single method of treatment; the therapy has to be adapted to each case.
There are invasive methods (the surgical ones), minimally invasive ones (sclerotherapy – injecting a sclerosing substance into the vessel) and non-invasive ones (the vascular laser).
The vascular lasers used to treat venectasias, facial telangiectasias, angiomas and small to medium varicose veins (up to 3.5 mm across) have evolved continuously over recent years, and the results are excellent now that the latest equipment has arrived.
The Nd:YAG Cutera laser, a latest-generation laser technology, combines the long wavelength that is ideal in vascular treatments with flexible working parameters (9 million combinations), and is the most modern and effective piece of equipment on the market today.
The principle of the method is the selective photothermolysis of the vessel without affecting the surrounding tissue. The laser beam passes through the skin and thermocoagulates the vessel, which, emptied of blood, is no longer visible. Before treatment a full examination is needed, including a Doppler study, in order to establish the diagnosis precisely and to choose the best method of treatment.
Vascular laser treatment is a safe and effective method for women and men alike, for children and for older people, whatever the skin type or phototype.
Certain lesions (such as broken vessels, spider veins and small angiomas) need a few pulses, while others may call for several treatment sessions.
The great advantage of the method is that the treatment is not painful, involves no injections and needs no recovery time, which puts it among the “lunchtime” procedures. For very sensitive patients a topical anaesthetic can be applied on request.
Even so, patients should know that after the treatment the area may redden or bruise, which resolves over the following two weeks. Sunscreens should be used regularly and sun exposure limited after the procedure.
When do the results show?
With small lesions the results are visible immediately; with large ones they become visible after two weeks.
So surgery can still wait.