VASCULAR LESIONS

A vascular lesion is a skin blemish due to abnormal blood vessels located directly under the surface of the skin, thereby giving the skin a red color.  Types of vascular lesions include port-wine stains, hemangiomas, cherry angiomas, and telangiectasia otherwise known as spider veins.   Vascular lesions most frequently appear on the face, neck, and upper body.

Port wine stains are present at birth and grow larger as the patient grows, thereby covering the same relative proportion of skin. As the patient gets older, port wine stains can turn darker red and become more prominent. With time port wine stains may grow thicker and less smooth.

·  Strawberry hemangiomas or cherry angiomas develop after birth, grow rapidly, and usually go away on their own. Unless the lesion bleeds or interferes with a vital function.

*  The most common vascular lesions are the small blood vessels caused by sun damage. These are also called "spider veins" or telangiectasia. They are sometimes referred to as" broken blood vessels". Essentially ultraviolet radiation usually from excess sun exposure, possibly decades earlier than the broken blood vessels and spider veins present on the face, cause irregular growth of these small blood vessels in the skin. These blood vessels are not the major blood supply to the skin and are not necessary for the health of the skin. A good way to see if it is a spider vein, a telangiectasia, or a broken blood vessel is to look closely at the lesion in the mirror and compress it with your fingertip. When you let go if it is a broken vessel, or a spider vein, or a telangiectasia, it will refill with blood usually from a center vessel spreading out to multiple branches. The most common place for this to occur is in areas that get sun, for example, the corner between the nose and the cheek and the upper surface of the cheek just below the eyes.