Question

I have been on high blood pressure medicine for 6 months now and have noticed the veins across my upper chest are showing through my skin. I am 50 and have been dieting and lost 80 pounds. Otherwise I am very healthy. I've been doing a lot of lifting at work lately. What could be causing this and is it normal as one ages?

Answer

From your history I suspect that you have "spider veins" on your chest. You don't say if you are a man or a woman, but women are more prone to get spider veins on the chest.

Spider veins are tiny, dilated blood vessels seen on the skin of the face, neck, trunk, chest and legs. Unlike varicose veins, which lie in the fatty tissue beneath the skin, spider veins run just below the surface of the skin.

Because they're so near the surface, they sometimes appear darker and more prominent than you would expect for their size. Although they can result in itching and minor aches and pains, spider veins are not a health hazard; they are mostly a cosmetic problem.

To some extent spider veins are like gray hair - they are something seen with age, as you suspected, but are not a sign of disease, or illness. Spider veins are not brought about by diet, lifestyle, smoking, or casual drinking. There is some evidence that hormonal factors may play a role in their appearance. I also suspect that your recent weight loss might be a factor. The loss of fatty tissue allows the veins to be even closer to the surface of the skin. I have also seen spider veins in a person who abuses alcohol, although no evidence points to that in your case.

If you are bothered by the appearance of your spider veins there are several ways in which they can be treated by a dermatologist. The procedure selected depends on their severity.



Micro-sclerotherapy - This is the preferred method of treatment. A solution is injected into the vein which seals it off and re-routes the blood through nearby healthy veins. No anesthesia is required since the solution is slowly injected through very small, hair-sized needles. The procedure may need to be repeated, depending on the condition of the vein(s).

Ellman Radiowave Surgitron - This procedure is used to treat spider veins that are too small to be injected. Surgitron is also used to do the final touch-up on the treatment of larger veins.

PhotoDerm VL Treatment - Recommended for certain types and sizes of spider veins, this is a broad spectrum of light in milli-second long pulses which can be delivered over a larger area than the usual pinpoint of a laser beam. This broader spectrum of light penetrates deeply into the skin and is absorbed almost entirely by the targeted veins, with little damage to the surrounding area.