Small dilated blood vessels, when seen throught the skin, appear as red or blue lines. We called them telangiectasia. They can be seen anywhere on the body but are more common on the face and legs.

It is discussed in more details at: Aesthetic Medicine > Aesthetic Problems > Telangiectasia (Red & Blue Lines)

How Does It Work?

The blood pigment, called haemoglobin inside the blood vessels, acts as the chromophore to attract the laser. Some wavelengths are attracted more than the others, as explained earlier under <What Is Lasers>. This selective photo-thermolysis process generates heat which closes up the blood vessels.

We use the GentleYAG laser, which is a long-pulsed 1064nm machine. This wavelength is less absorbed by the melanin pigment in the skin, and so will cause less chance of skin burning. Moreover, it has a patented Dynamic Cooling Device, which sprays a short purge of cryogen just before the laser emission, and therefore offers extra protection and comfort during the treatment.

Treatment Procedures

You will find the treatment only slightly painful, because of the Dynamic Cooling Device. As local anaesthetic cream may blanch the blood vessels and make treatment difficult, it is not applied before the treatment.

The treatment is rather time consuming. The laser is traced along the individual blood vessels. There is immediate clearance of the vessels, but later some of them will re-emerge, but in less extent. There is only minimal redness and swelling overlying the vessels, and as this subsides in a few days, the underlying vessels are not seen anymore, or at least much reduced in size.

Multiple treatments are usually required. Those on the face are more readily removed comparing to those on the legs. Capillary telangiectases (red lines) are more resistant than venous telangiectasia (blue lines), and can persist or return quickly after laser treatment.

Treatment Examples

Facial Telangiectasia
	Before	After 1 Treatment
Facial Blue Vein
	Before	After 1 Treatment
Leg Telangiectasia
	Before	After 1 Treatment