Seen At 11: New Treatment Erases Spider Veins
The Food and Drug Administration has just approved a new spider vein treatment, and the injections erase the unsightly purple veins in a heartbeat, reports CBS 2's Dr. Holly Phillips.
"It's not very pretty," 37-year-old spider vein sufferer Maria Schainuck said.
Schainuck feels embarrassed by the spider veins on her legs. The mother of three has her own ideas on how they turned up.
"Being in the military for eight years and being on my feet, and also having four children, having four C-sections," she said.
"It's a younger patient population that we see with these problems – they're still young, very active, and they want their legs to look good," dermatologist Dr. Marta Rendon said.
Dr. Rendon said the veins are more common in women than in men, and patients are always looking for ways to get rid of them.
"Remember, these blood vessels are caused by pregnancy, by obesity, genetics, aging, people that have professions who are on their feet all day long," Dr. Rendon said.
Now, there's a new way to erase even the smallest spider veins. It's a substance called Asclera, and it's injected directly into the veins.
"Once you inject the substance into the blood vessel, it immediately disappears – temporarily, of course," Dr. Rendon said. "And eventually with time, the vessel will close, and it gets reabsorbed and will just change into other tissues."
Asclera has been used in Europe for some time, but just this year it was approved by the Food & Drug Administration for use in the United States.
"It's been 60 years before the FDA approved a new sclerosing agent, so we're very excited to have something that we know works well, works fast, and has a very high degree of patient satisfaction," Dr. Rendon said.
Schainuck said she was completely satisfied with the results.
"I think it looks awesome," Schainuck said. "They're not as predominant."
In clinical trials conducted in the U.S. and Europe on Asclera, there was a 95 percent patient satisfaction rate. There can be side effects, however, including bruising, irritation and pain at the injection site.
Prices vary, but one 20-minute session costs around $500.
