Thread veins can be a real pain; they can appear anywhere on the body, although they typically affect the face and legs. This can make wearing skirts or shorts problematic, and makes leaving the house without make-up absolutely impossible.
When thread veins appear it is because the tiny blood vessels beneath the skin remain dilated so that the red or purple blood contained within them shows through the surface of the skin. There are various ways to deal with them, although some are more effective than other:
• Concealer – there are specialist high-pigment concealers that are designed to provide heavy-duty coverage for thread veins and pigmentation problems. The downside is that the make-up will need to be applied on a daily basis, which can take time and the right techniques will need to be learnt.
• Thermo-coagulation – a high frequency electric current is applied to the offending blood vessels through a fine needle. This causes the thread vein to disintegrate and the resulting waste material is then absorbed by the body.
• I.P.L. – this type of treatment provides similar results to thermo-coagulation, although no needles are involved and it used light and heat energy. Intense pulses of light are applied to the skin and the energy is absorbed by the haemoglobin, causing the blood and vessel to heat up until they collapse.
