Spider veins are broken blood vessels that are visible beneath the surface of your skin, consisting of red, blue, or purple lines that resemble a spider web or tree branch. While they’re often viewed as a cosmetic problem, spider veins can also be a warning sign of more serious problems with the venous system or health issues like liver damage.

Vein Care offers leading non-invasive spider vein treatment with a trusted team of doctors in Melbourne ready to help. Our experienced vein specialists can help get rid of spider veins effectively and offer advice on whether they are an indication of other health issues. Below, we look at what causes spider veins and when they can be an indication of liver problems.

What Are Spider Veins?

Spider veins are easily recognisable, appearing as prominent, small veins that form a web-like shape. They are actually not veins, however, consisting of broken capillaries, venules, and arterioles. These are smaller blood vessels that connect with larger blood vessels like veins. While small, they can be quite noticeable as they are much closer than veins to the surface of your skin.

Spider veins are easy to eliminate and are more of an aesthetic concern than a serious health issue. They commonly appear on your lower legs, thighs and face. Some people can find spider veins on their upper body and near their rib cage, which can be a sign of a liver problem. Whether they are indicative of more serious health concerns depends on how they appear and what other symptoms accompany them.

What Causes Spider Veins?

Spider veins are common, affecting over 50% of women and individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB). Several factors contribute to the development of spider veins, including:

  • Ageing (especially over 80)
  • Excess weight, which adds pressure on your body
  • Hereditary history of vein conditions
  • Pregnancy
  • Menopause, puberty and other hormonal changes
  • Sun damage
  • Past vein damage and blood clots
  • Skin injuries
  • Occupations that require a lot of sitting or standing in one spot

Since blood vessels throughout your body are all connected, people who develop spider veins can also experience other vein conditions such as varicose veins, deep vein thrombosis and chronic venous insufficiency. These conditions all share some of the same risk factors.

Is the Appearance of Spider Veins Caused by Liver Problems?

While most spider veins are harmless, they can sometimes be symptomatic of diseases of the liver, connective tissue, immune system or other parts of the body. If you have many spider veins appearing across your body, especially if they are occurring in conjunction with other symptoms, this may indicate a disorder deeper than the skin. It is in your best interests to pay attention to spider veins and have them checked by a professional to rule out serious health conditions.

Liver to Blood to Vein

The liver is responsible for detoxifying blood and maintaining a healthy chemical balance in the body. Since this organ is highly involved in regulating the chemistry of the blood, a dysfunction in the liver can also create dysfunctions in your blood pressure and levels of circulating hormones throughout your body, which can manifest as spider veins.

Fatty Liver Disease

Spider veins can often be one of the first symptoms of fatty liver disease to appear, especially if found near the rib cage as blood clots and fat build up in the area. Fatty liver disease can progress to the more advanced stage of liver disease, cirrhosis, characterised by scarring of the liver tissue. Conditions that impact liver function also affect hormone regulation. One of the consequences is a disruption to the body’s ability to control levels of oestrogen and testosterone, increasing the build-up of oestrogen in the liver.

As a hormone with wide-ranging effects across the body, this affects the vascular system and causes spider veins to form across the upper torso, shoulders, back and face. In addition to spider veins, you may experience other symptoms such as red, dry or itchy skin, fatigue and loss of appetite.

Autoimmune Hepatitis

Spider veins can sometimes also be a sign of autoimmune hepatitis. While rare, it can have serious consequences and worth ruling out through a medical check-up. Autoimmune hepatitis is characterised by your own immune system attacking the liver. Like other autoimmune disorders, this mostly affects women and AFAB individuals in their twenties and thirties.

A genetic predisposition to autoimmune disorders can be triggered by risk factors such as certain viral infections, drugs and toxins. In addition to spider veins, other symptoms include joint or abdominal pain, nausea or poor appetite, feeling tired and the development of other skin conditions, such as a rash, acne and jaundice.

Spider Veins and Liver Dysfunction: Are They Connected?

Spider veins are harmless most of the time. If you experience pain or discomfort near spider veins on your ribs, however, consult a doctor, as this can be a sign it is related to liver dysfunction. Other signs of liver problems to look out for include:

  • Bloated feeling
  • Swollen glands
  • Fatigue and tiredness
  • Jaundice
  • Pain around the abdomen’s upper right side

Another sign of liver problems is the appearance of the spider veins themselves. Spider angioma, for example, resembles spider veins but indicates systemic disease. Multiple spider angiomas can be an indication of chronic liver disease in many cases.  Spider angiomas look similar to spider veins but have a red spot at the centre with reddish web-like lines that extend out from the central spot. You may also notice reddened skin around the area, which typically doesn’t occur with spider veins.

Spider Veins Treatment in Melbourne

Whether you’re looking to get spider veins treatment for cosmetic purposes or are concerned about underlying conditions, the team at Vein Care in Melbourne can offer advice and provide comprehensive treatments with minimal invasiveness, quick results and short recovery times.

Sclerotherapy

Sclerotherapy is a quick and simple method of spider vein removal that involves injecting a special solution directly into the vein. This causes the vein walls to collapse and get absorbed by the body. Many people choose Sclerotherapy as it is an outpatient procedure that takes as little as 30 minutes and requires no anaesthetic. Results are visible within a few weeks.

Microsclerotherapy

Microsclerotherapy is similar to Sclerotherapy but is specially designed for spider vein removal due to its ability to address small, superficial blood vessels like spider veins. Microsclerotherapy uses finer, more delicate needles to deliver the injected solution with great precision, where traditional Sclerotherapy can use a broader range of needle sizes depending on the specific problem vein.

Lifestyle Changes

Spider veins can appear on different parts of your body for different reasons. Some ways to reduce your risk profile while improving your overall health include:

  • Eat foods high in fibre, folic acid, flavonoids and vitamin C
  • Maintain an active lifestyle, with 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per day
  • Avoid sitting or standing in one spot for too long
  • Maintain a healthy weight
  • Don’t wear anything too tight around your waist or pelvis
  • Keep your legs up higher than your hips when you are resting or sitting
  • Avoid wearing high heels
  • Protect your skin from prolonged sun exposure by wearing sunscreen
  • Minimise alcohol intake and smoking
  • Wear compression stockings

While it’s difficult to prevent them from developing altogether, these are some of the lifestyle changes that can help prevent or reduce the severity of spider veins.

Book in for Spider Veins Treatment in Melbourne

Depending on the underlying causes and your unique circumstances, spider veins can be a relatively harmless, cosmetic issue or a sign of a serious medical issue. Either way, the team at Vein Care is here to help with a range of treatments to address spider veins and treat other vein conditions. Call 1300 730 100 or contact us online to make an appointment.