03
Apr
2012
Venous lakes are dark blue to violet compressible small swelling caused by dilatation of venules.
These are common on sun-exposed skin. They also commonly occur on lips and are uncommon before 50 years of age.
The diagnosis is clinical and not difficult for the trained eye. Differential diagnosis includes melanoma and pigmented basal cell carcinoma.
Venous lakes are soft, compressible, well-defined, and usually a few mm in size.
Direct pressure created by a glass slide causes a vascular lesion such as a venous lake to blanch or fade as the blood is forced out.
Various treatments are available but the best treatment is with a long pulsed Nd-Yag laser. There is a lack of awareness of this even among medical professionals.
I believe that with recent advances in laser technology and the wide availability of these, there is no role for any destructive modality in most cases.
A variety of treatment modalities have been described. These include cryotherapy, diathermy, surgery, and sclerotherapy.
These can cause scarring and textural changes. A variety of lasers have been described but most success has been achieved with the long-pulsed Nd-Yag laser.
Usually, only one treatment session is required and patients are delighted with the outcome. The results shown here are typical in our clinic.
So this is one more instance where a particular laser is an obvious choice. It is non-invasive and quick and no anesthesia or operation is required.
There is no scarring and excellent results are achieved at a very reasonable cost.
If you want to read more, the experts at Consulting Room really know what they're talking about and have put together pigmentation, sclerotherapy, and scarring FAQs just for you.
If you have more questions, you can use the pigmentation, sclerotherapy, and scarring questions feature to talk to our panel of trained medical experts.
If you're keen to get started with any of these treatments right away then you're in luck - those clever folks also have a list of trusted, accredited pigmentation, sclerotherapy, and scarring clinics in your area.
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