When I was seven months pregnant, a tiny red dot appeared beneath my right eye. As I continued to grow, so did the dot, sprouting tiny threads and earning it the delightful medical term of a spider angioma: a burst blood vessel caused by the strain pregnancy places on the body. Medically, it was benign; cosmetically, it was not. Slowly, this red, burst vessel became all I could see when I looked in the mirror.
Interestingly, skin tone and texture have a greater impact on how old we perceive people to be – much more so than fine lines or wrinkles. A 2008 study found that even skin tone (that which is free from marked sun damage, pigmentation, and scarring) plays a greater role in appearing youthful than skin laxity (wrinkles and fine lines). When skin has no visible imperfections, such as redness or pigmentation, you automatically fall into the “good skin” category, with other markers of ageing becoming less relevant. It was astonishing to read, given the amount of focus given to “anti-ageing ”treatments targeted at wrinkle reduction.
I put these findings – that even skin tone plays a huge role in determining how we feel about our skin and how we’re perceived by others – to celebrity facialist Keren Bartov and consultant dermatologist Dr Alexis Granite. Neither were surprised.
“Even skin tone and smooth skin texture are among the most significant factors in creating a healthy-looking complexion,” Bartov describes. “When the skin is even-toned, calm and balanced, it is naturally perceived as healthier and more youthful.” It’s a trick of the eye, not unlike what concealer or foundation does when masking irregularities. “Even-toned skin tends to reflect light more uniformly,” adds Granite, “which is often subconsciously associated with youthfulness and vitality.”
As someone who has always had a predisposition to weakened veins (genetics, all the professionals I spoke to confirmed, can play a significant role), it wasn’t entirely surprising that this had happened to me. Initially, I raided my skincare collection in the hope I could encourage the vessel to reabsorb, something my dermatologist had suggested might be possible.
Of the ingredients I knew could give results, centella asiatica stood out for an overall calming effect, hence its inclusion in many CC creams, while “azelaic and tranexamic acid help address pigmentation and redness,” advises Bartov, “and ceramides help to repair and soothe.”
Exciting new peptides are also beginning to play a role, including Acetyl Tetrapeptide-40, which is designed to reduce redness, inflammation and vascular imperfections by strengthening capillaries and making them less visible. Ultimately, though, if a thread vein appears, your at-home skincare routine can only do so much. It’s in-clinic lasers that can make a real, long-lasting difference.
Lasers have been used in the treatment of thread veins since the mid-1980s and are still considered the gold standard in offering a minimal and non-invasive approach. This is particularly important when treating delicate areas of the face.