Can Spider Veins Get Worse After Laser Treatment? And Other FAQs About Spider Vein Treatment in California

Laser treatment is one of the most common non-invasive treatments for spider veins. During laser therapy, the vein doctor or medical provider channels highly calibrated wavelengths of light energy into the unhealthy spider veins to irritate their vein walls, turning them into scar tissues eventually reabsorbed by the body. Laser treatment essentially turns the damaged blood vessels into scar tissues that are eventually metabolized by the body.

Your veins will look worse after laser treatment because they’ll turn into hardened scar tissues — they will look darker and feel harder underneath your skin. You may also experience skin staining, discoloration, and other side effects. However, as your body metabolizes the scar tissues and the accumulated blood reroutes into healthier leg veins, the spider veins will gradually fade away from your skin’s surface. The entire process may take several months.

As such, spider veins may seem to worsen after laser treatment, but that’s a normal part of the process. It’s also worth mentioning that laser therapy isn’t the most effective spider vein treatment available — laser therapy can only work on the smallest spider veins, and the results appear after several sessions spaced a few weeks apart. It might take three months or more for you to notice considerable results after laser treatment.

California Vein Treatment is a luxurious medical center for vein treatment in California. Our board-certified vein doctors always perform duplex ultrasound tests to visualize the blood flow in your leg veins, determine if you have underlying vein disease, and treat the root cause of spider veins — not just the visible symptoms. Our considered and comprehensive approach to spider vein treatment ensures safe and consistent results with minimal risk of recurrence.

Our state-of-the-art medical centers for vein treatment are located in San Jose and San Diego. Our vein treatment center in San Jose is near the Santa Clara Medical Center, and our vein treatment center in San Diego is in La Jolla. You can schedule an appointment with our board-certified vein specialists at your nearest medical center for vein treatment in California today.

It’s perfectly normal for your spider veins to look worse after treatment. Sclerotherapy injections turn your spider veins into hardened scar tissues that are eventually metabolized by the body. When your spider veins turn into blood clots, they seem to become darker and larger. Over time, however, your spider veins will be metabolized by your body, and they’ll fade away from your skin’s surface. The entire process may take around three weeks.

Laser therapy doesn’t lead to immediate results. After the laser therapy session, the spider veins will gradually shrink, turn into scar tissues, and get reabsorbed by the body, following which they will fade away from the skin’s surface. Laser therapy isn’t nearly as effective as sclerotherapy, so you may need multiple sessions spaced a few weeks apart for optimal results. You may notice improvements after a few months.

However, sclerotherapy can provide more consistent and reliable results. If you opt for sclerotherapy instead of laser therapy, the spider veins will fade away after about three weeks. Each sclerosant injection effectively closes one spider vein, so the total number of injections will depend on the number of spider veins. If you have a large volume of spider veins, you may need two or three sclerotherapy sessions. But the results of each session are evident within three weeks.

Each sclerotherapy session produces dramatic improvements, but the total number of sessions will depend on your unique condition. During sclerotherapy, the vein doctor injects a sclerosant medicine into the spider veins. Each sclerosant injection destroys one spider vein, so the total number of injections and sessions depends on the number of spider veins on your legs. Most patients need a maximum of three sessions for optimal results.

Spider veins are damaged blood vessels visible just underneath the skin’s surface. They appear when your blood vessels are damaged or because of the accumulation of excess blood in the leg veins. Chronic venous insufficiency is the primary root cause of spider veins and most other vein problems. When your vein valves collapse or malfunction, blood flows backward and accumulates in the leg veins, eventually leading to vascular dilation and spider veins.

Massage can’t make your spider veins go away. Some people believe that applying pressure on the leg veins will push the accumulated blood in your leg veins to the heart, thus removing the spider veins. But that’s not true. Spider veins occur when your vein valves are damaged, leading to the accumulation of blood in leg veins. Massage may temporarily improve blood circulation and alleviate some symptoms, but it won’t fix your vein valves. The only way to treat spider veins is through minimally invasive spider vein treatments in California.