Spider Veins: What You Should Know

When blood in your leg veins gets stuck in your legs due to leaky valves, spider veins can result. This is called venous insufficiency. Here’s what you should know:

  • What they are: Spider veins are actually small, broken capillaries. The reason you can see them so well is due to a problem in your blood vessels’ valves, the flaps that open and close so blood can travel. If the valves do not allow blood to flow back to your heart sufficiently, the blood can get stuck in your legs and cause spider veins.
  • What they look like: Spider veins are small, generally less than 2 mm in diameter. They sit just below the surface of your skin and can have a blue, red or purple hue. You may notice a web-like pattern to them, as they mimic the pattern of your body’s network of blood vessels.
  • Spider veins vs. varicose veins: Think of spider veins as a minor symptom of venous insufficiency, or leaky blood vessel valves. If left untreated, the problem may worsen, and you could end up with larger, varicose veins. Many people with venous insufficiency have a combination of spider and varicose veins.

Spider Vein Treatment

Our vein care team offers a range of treatment options for chronic venous insufficiency. Our treatments include:

  • Sclerotherapy: Currently seen as the gold standard in treating spider veins, sclerotherapy injects a specialized solution into spider veins. This causes the veins to close. Learn more about sclerotherapy.
  • Ultrasound-guided foam sclerotherapy: Using ultrasound to carefully guide a physician’s movements, this treatment is best for tributary veins that are not suitable for laser or radiofrequency procedures. Once the vein is located, a physician injects a medicine into the damaged vein. This effectively closes the vein and causes the swollen veins to disappear. Learn more about ultrasound-guided foam sclerotherapy.

Experience the Blessing Difference: Our Vein Clinic

Our skilled care team offers a comprehensive range of minimally invasive procedures to effectively treat various types of spider veins.

Patients choose the Blessing Vein Clinic for our:

  • Expertise: Our surgeon Dr. Michael Nellestein is board certified through the American Board of Medical Specialties and has been practicing for more than 20 years. He uses the most advanced techniques and performs procedures in the least invasive way, so you see excellent results with less pain.
  • Convenience: We can often conduct your consultation, diagnostic imaging and treatment discussion all in a single visit. We welcome all patients, and no referral is required.
  • Focus on vein care: As the only full-time vein specialist in the area, Dr. Nellestein focuses on offering the most advanced vein therapies with the least invasive techniques.
  • Care that focuses on you: Our goal is to exceed your expectations, every time. We take our time to listen to your concerns and goals and tailor a treatment plan to your specific needs.
  • No hidden fees: The vast majority of our treatments are covered by major medical insurance plans. No hidden fees means you will know exactly what a treatment will cost you before deciding on a treatment plan.

Contact Us

To schedule an appointment or refer a patient, please call (217) 214-9611.