Leg veins

Leg veins means the fine red or blue vessels visible at the surface of the legs — telangiectasias and the slightly larger reticular veins.

First, why this slot was made separately.

When the sclerotherapy page was written there was no slot for this concern, so it went under 'redness'. But telangiectasias on the legs are a different problem from redness on the face.

• the cause differs — facial redness tangles inflammation and vascular reactivity; leg telangiectasias tangle hours spent standing and venous pressure
• what is used differs — several topical ingredients attach to the facial side; no ingredient attaches to the leg side
• what is measured differs — the face is measured by erythema index; the legs by how far the vessels have cleared

It was separated out for the same reason the bruising slot was made. Having nowhere to put something cannot be a reason to put it in the wrong place. This site leaves a record of correcting what it filed wrongly itself.

And not a single ingredient attaches to this slot. Among the concern slots on this site that is rare. That is information — we did not find a trial in which something applied to the skin cleared leg telangiectasias. What attaches here is procedures.

• sclerotherapy — an agent is injected into the vessel to close it. The centre of this slot
• long-pulsed Nd:YAG laser — a 2015 trial compared it against sclerotherapy, leg against leg
• vascular laser — mostly for the face, but the same principle

That 2015 trial shows the most important thing about this concern — the answer changed with who did the scoring. The treating doctor saw sclerotherapy as better; the blinded raters found no difference between them (p = 0.84). That is written up on the sclerotherapy page.

Finally, the most important clinical point in this concern.

What is visible at the surface is not all there is. There is sometimes venous reflux beneath leg telangiectasias, and if there is, erasing the surface alone lets them come back. Ask whether ultrasound should come first. And if one leg alone swells or hurts, if the skin colour changes, or if wounds heal poorly, this is not a cosmetic matter. Seek care first.