South Georgia Vein Center: Dr. Greg Martin.

Spider Veins, causes and modern treatments.

What Are Varicose and Spider Veins?

Varicose Veins

Varicose veins are large, bulging veins on the legs. Like spider veins, they are caused by leaky valves in your leg veins that allow blood to fall down your leg, instead of flowing briskly up your leg toward the heart as it should.

Varicose veins are typically more of a concern than spider veins, both medically and cosmetically. But, like spider veins, the methods for treating them have dramatically improved in the last decade.

An experienced vein specialist should usually be able to clear those unsightly critters in a single treatment session. This is in contrast to spider vein therapy, where we typically clear only about 70 percent of the abnormal veins in a single session.

Spider Veins

Spider veins are the tiny veins—usually purple, red, or blue in color—that sometimes appear in the superficial layer of the skin (the epidermis). As the name implies, the individual veins emanating out from a central cluster can resemble the legs of a spider.

Approximately 70 percent of adult females develop spider veins at some time in their lives. In males, the percentage is smaller.

Many people view spider veins as simply a cosmetic problem. But in about two-thirds of cases, spider veins are responsible for some degree of pain, burning, heaviness, itching, stinging, swelling, restlessness, fatigue, or other medical discomfort in the legs.