What's the Difference Between Varicose Veins and Spider Veins?

 A combination of genetics, aging, and other factors can lead the blood vessels in your face and legs to degrade and become dysfunctional. Whether you have spider veins, varicose veins, or a combination of the two, if you’re plagued by clusters of visible veins, they’re not working for you.

Both spider veins and varicose veins are blood vessels that have become impaired due to pressure, aging, or other factors. Sometimes they cause uncomfortable symptoms, such as leg pain or itching. At other times, they’re just an aesthetic problem. Either way, you don’t have to live with them.

At Texas Heart and Vein Multispecialty Group, our expert team led by Jon-Cecil (JC) Walkes, MD, treats both varicose and spider veins. We offer cutting-edge vein treatments such as VenaSeal™, Varithena®, and radiofrequency ablation at our offices in Greater Heights, Pearland Market, and throughout the Houston, Texas, area.

So, what's the difference between varicose veins and spider veins, and when do you need to do something about them? Read on to find out.

Varicose veins are large and troublesome

Varicose veins are those bulky, twisty blue and purple veins that show up your legs. A varicose vein has lost its ability to efficiently propel blood forward and upward toward the heart for reoxidation. Instead, faulty valves permit the blood to flow backward and pool behind the valve.

The retrograde flow and pooling causes the portion of the vein behind the valve to swell with the extra blood. Varicose veins become so swollen with blood that they push your skin outward.

The unattractive appearance of varicose veins is enough motivation for many women and men to remove them. However, even if you can live with the way they make your legs look, you may eventually begin to have symptoms due to their dysfunction, such as:

• Leg pain
• Tired legs
• Leg cramps 
• Itchy legs
• Numbness in legs

Varicose veins used to require surgical removal, a process that could be quite painful on its own. However, today’s therapies are minimally invasive and easy to tolerate. Once we disable your dysfunctional varicose veins, your blood reroutes to healthy blood vessels, improving your overall circulation and health.

Spider veins are small and unsightly

Spider veins – also known as telangiectasia – don’t push through the surface of your skin. Instead, they appear as sprawls of feathery or spidery lines of red, blue, and purple on your face (particularly around your nose) or legs. Their dysfunction arises when the veins spread out and widen due to weakness or pressure.

Usually, spider veins don’t cause symptoms and are merely an aesthetic concern. However, if you have enough spider veins, they could cause leg fatigue, itching, and other discomforting side effects.

Like varicose veins, spider veins do your circulatory system no favors. Their inability to move blood efficiently slows down your circulation. When you remove spider veins, your blood finds healthier blood vessels, which improves your circulation.

You don’t have to live with varicose or spider veins

Thanks to advances in vein treatment, you no longer have to live with varicose or spider veins. You also don’t have to schedule painful stripping surgery that could take weeks to months to recover from. 

Instead, we have fast, relatively pain-free, minimally invasive ways to remove dysfunctional veins and improve your circulation. Options include:

Radiofrequency ablation

Radiofrequency ablation closes varicose veins with a thin, heated catheter. The heat shrinks and closes the diseased veins so blood can then travel to adjacent, healthy veins. 

VenaSeal

VenaSeal closes varicose veins with a medical adhesive, which forces your blood into healthy veins. Eventually, the disabled veins dissolve, and your body flushes away the debris.

Varithena

Varithena is an advanced form of sclerotherapy, which uses an injectable substance to irritate the wall of varicose and spider veins, forcing them to collapse. Instead of saline, Varithena uses foam to destroy diseased blood vessels and reroute your circulation.

You don’t have to tolerate diseased blood vessels: Learn more about how to remove spider veins and varicose veins with minimally invasive treatments. Contact us today by phone or online at the office nearest you.