Everything about Telangiectasia totally explained
Telangiectasias, are small dilated
blood vessels near the surface of the skin; usually they measure only a few millimeters. They can develop anywhere on the body but commonly on the face around the nose, cheeks, and chin. They can also develop on the legs, specifically on the upper thigh, below the knee joint, and around the ankles.
These are actually developmental abnormalities but can closely mimic the behaviour of
benign vascular neoplasms. They may be composed of abnormal aggregations of
arterioles,
capillaries, or
venules.
Chronic treatment with
topical corticosteroids may lead to telangiectasia.
Features
Telangiectasias can result in
naevus flammeus (port-wine stain), which is a flat birthmark on the head or neck that spontaneously regresses. A port-wine stain, if present, will grow proportionately with the child. There is a high association with
Sturge-Weber syndrome, a
nevus formation in the skin supplied by the
trigeminal nerve and associated with
glaucoma,
meningeal angiomas, and
mental retardation. Finally,
spider telangiectasias are a radial array of tiny arterioles that commonly occur in
pregnant women and in patients with hepatic
cirrhosis and are associated with
palmar erythema. In men, they're related to high
estrogen levels secondary to
liver disease.
Because telangiectasias are vascular lesions, they
blanch when tested with
diascopy.
Associated conditions
Telangiectasias may occur in a number of diseases:
Causes
The main factors that play a role in the development and continuity of spider veins include;
Heredity- Where family history plays a part in individual development.
Age - The development of spider veins may occur at any age but usually occurs between 18 and 35 years, and peaks between 50 and 60 years.
Gender – Females are affected approximately four to one to males.
Pregnancy – Pregnancy is a key factor contributing to the formation of varicose and spider veins. The most important factor is circulating hormones that weaken vein walls. There's also a significant increase in the blood volume during pregnancy, which tends to distend veins, causing valve dysfunction which leads to blood pooling in the veins. Moreover,later in pregnancy, the enlarged uterus can compress veins, causing higher vein pressure leading to dilated veins. Varicose veins that form during pregnancy may spontaneously improve or even disappear a few months after delivery.
Lifestyle/Occupation - Those who are involved with prolonged sitting or standing in their daily activities have an increased risk of developing varicose veins. Therefore, the weight of the blood continuously pressing against the closed valves causes them to fail, leading to vein distention.
The lifestyle factors that can contribute to the development of varicose and spider veins entail:
Prolonged standing or sitting
Binding clothing
Treatment
Telangiectasias are often treated with laser or IPL therapy.
There have been medication based treatments available for over 50 years. Laser therapy uses light beam that's pulsed onto the veins in order to seal them off, causing them to dissolve. These light-based treatment requires adequate heating of the veins. For optimal results, several laser treatments are usually necessary. A Sclerosant medication is injected into the diseased vein so it hardens and eventually shrinks away. Another option for treatment is Endovenous Laser Treatment (ELT). With ELT a small optic fiber is inserted through a needle into the varicose vein under ultrasound guidance. The laser is activated and, as the optic fiber is removed from the vein, it heats and closes the vein. Once the vein is closed, the blood that was circulating through the vein is naturally rerouted to other healthy veins.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Telangiectasia'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://telangiectasia.totallyexplained.com">Telangiectasia Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
