Understanding Sclerotherapy and Brown Spotting
If you have large, extremely visible veins in your legs, then you may want to work with your doctor to have them treated. One type of therapy is called sclerotherapy, where medicine is injected into the veins to cause them to shrink. This therapy is highly effective, but it can leave you with some brown marks on the skin. Keep reading to find out why this may happen and how to prevent it.
Why Do Brown Marks Appear?
Sclerotherapy involves the direct injection of medicine into each vein that you want to disappear. And, a small amount of blood will escape from the injection site. When this happens, some of the pigments from the escaped red blood cells will embed themselves in the dermis. This can create a pattern of brown splotches on the skin.
There are some things that can leave you susceptible to the development of the spotting issue. If you have a darker skin tone, then this is likely to happen. And, if you have sensitive skin that becomes swollen and irritated easily, then this can cause some discoloration. This is also true if you have blood vessels that break easily and if you have a good deal of iron in your body.
Medications may lead to pigmentation issues, too, and this is often seen if you are taking certain kinds of antibiotics. However, other medications, like anticoagulants that can cause you to bleed, may be problematic as well.
How Can Brown Marks Be Prevented?
The brown marks that develop after sclerotherapy can be prevented in many cases. You do want to limit the amount of leakage and bleeding that occurs, so speak with your doctor about the medications you take and whether they may or may not cause bleeding problems. If they do, you may need to wait until you can stop taking the medicine before you undergo sclerotherapy.
You also should wear compressions stockings or socks for a week or two after the initial therapy session. This will prevent blood from leaking out of the blood cells and depositing pigments.
You should look closely at your legs in the months following your treatment to see if brown spots are appearing. If so, your sclerotherapy doctor will investigate the extent of the problem and may offer you a laser treatment. Lasers can break up the pigments once they appear, and this will eliminate them for good.