Laser Vein Treatment

Over time, many people notice veins that gradually become visible on the surface of their skin.  If you’re trying to maintain a healthy, attractive appearance in your skin, these veins can be quite bothersome. 

Laser vein treatment at our Arkansas surgery office may be used to treat these conditions:

• Spider veins
• Varicose veins
• Vascular lesions
• Broken capillaries

How Does Laser Vein Treatment Work?

We use the Sciton laser to remove unsightly veins in a process that works just like laser hair removal.  The laser energy (at a specific wavelength) is absorbed by pigment in the blood of the vein.  This technique represents an improvement over previous vein treatments that used a short wavelength laser.  The energy of the Sciton laser can penetrate the skin, bypassing the skin pigment and becoming absorbed by the red pigment in the blood. Since the beam passes through a computer-controlled cooling plate, it does not harm the skin.

As well as having a longer wavelength, the Sciton laser has a faster pulse, so that each tiny pulse of light lasts only a few thousandths of one second! That means the light energy is not wasted by being spread over the skin, but goes directly to the blood in the vein.
Because the Sciton has an adjustable beam, we can use it to treat veins of different sizes. Each vein treatment is entirely customized to the size, depth, and color of the veins.

Can any skin type undergo laser vein treatment?

Because the laser targets skin pigment, considerations about skin type may be a factor to discuss.  More pigment in the skin creates “competition” with the pigment in the vein. With older lasers this eliminated certain people as candidates for vein or hair removal, but the Sciton laser is better designed for penetrating beneath the skin surface, so now this is less of a problem. However, it still may be a good idea to avoid tanning before a vein treatment.

To learn more about laser vein treatment, contact our Little Rock cosmetic surgery office.