Treating Vascular Lesions

Vascular lesions such as port-wine stains, telangiectasia, haemangioma, spider naevus (spider veins), reticular veins, and venous lakes are common in both men and women regardless of the patient’s age. While some of these conditions do not pose a threat to the patient’s health, they can become bothersome as the patient may feel they affect their personal appearance. These are common skin blemishes that can be successfully treated with various Astanza laser technologies. The procedure is fast, simple to perform, and has virtually no side effects.

About Vascular Lesions

Vascular lesions are blood vessels that are visible through the skin. The harmless lesions look blood-colored, with either a red or purplish hue. Standard types of vascular lesions include: spider veins, telangiectasia, port wine stains, and hemangioma. They can occur on almost any part of the body, but are especially common on the face or legs.

There are many causes of vascular lesions, and they often appear as a side effect of aging. As such, laser treatment of vascular lesions has become a popular cosmetic procedure for people concerned about their skin appearance.

Astanza Vascular Technology

Astanza’s vast product line carries numerous lasers that can effectively treat unwanted vascular lesions. While the lasers listed below are all FDA-cleared to perform vascular lesion treatment, some are specifically engineered for this procedure and perform better than others. See their ranking below:

  • QuadroStar PROYELLOW: The QuadroStarPROYELLOW laser is the ultimate solution for vascular treatments,  melasma, brown spots, and other superficial blood or skin conditions. This laser features a brand new technology called HOPSL (high-power optically pumped semiconductor laser) that produces a yellow 577 nm wavelength that lies at the maximum hemoglobin absorption limit. This absorption is 40% higher than that of KTP and is more selective, making the QuadroStarPROYELLOW the gold standard for treating vascular lesions.
  • MeDioStar: The MeDioStar diode laser can be equipped with a vascular handpiece (VAS) that was developed for the treatment of leg veins, hemangiomas and other ectatic vessels. The handpiece wavelength range includes 940 nm for hemoglobin absorption, in the near infrared range, which reaches even deeper vessels resulting in a selective and efficient treatment.
  • Trinity, Duality, and Eternity: Our line of Q-switched lasers are also FDA-cleared to perform vascular lesion removal treatments. Selected chromophores within vascular lesions are targeted by the Q-switch Nd:YAG wavelength while minimizing damage to the surrounding tissue.

The Procedure

For treatment of vascular lesions, pulses of Q-switched laser light are directly applied to the entire area of the blemish. The veins and capillaries of the lesion absorb the laser’s energy while the surrounding skin tissue does not. The treatment causes the exposed vessels to break down and become less visible.

Procedure time for vascular lesion treatments depends on the size of the lesion, but never takes more than a few minutes. Side effects from the procedure are minimal – patients may experience some slight discomfort or redness in the area.

Typical Results

Small vascular lesions can often be removed in a single treatment, while other lesions may take several treatments to become less visible. Regardless, most patients see significant improvement in appearance after a single laser session with an Astanza Q-switched laser.