Help with Thread veins/Broken veins

clare64

My 13 year old has many of the above on the apple of his cheeks on the left side of his face. He is VERY self conscious about it.
Does anyone know of anything that can be done (apart from injections)
Thanks
Clarex

clare64

Any ideas?
Thanks

brook2jack

Has he seen the doctor about this? It may be a simple spider naevus which is common in children and disappears by itself eventually, but it could be a couple of other things. If he has not gone then make an appointment.

If its really bothering him the red cross do free sessions with camoflague make up specially designed to cover up this sort of thing. The concealers are waterproof and stay on well.

Under no circumstances allow anyone other than a doctor to do any treatments etc on this .

finally teenage children can get so obssessed with the slightest percieved physical imperfection and we as parents want to make everything "right" for them when sometimes the best thing is to reassure them what they think is a massive problem isn't.

clare64

Thanks for your reply Brook,
He has not see the GP because we did not want him to think it was a problem, but also we did want to be seen as time wasting for something that could be deemed 'cosmetic'. However, I will now make an appointment.

The makeup sounds good as long as it is not too obvious.

I agree about not letting anyone, other than a doctor , near this area.

It is most probably an age thing. He is a shy little chap but ( and I'm not just saying this because I am his Mum!) he is very handsome and even though he is not interested in girls, they are in him which makes him very self - conscious. I wouldn't be a teenager again if you paid me!

Again many thanks

Clare

RachRubyD

Such a hard time being a teen. I personally wouldn't go down the makeup route being a 13 old boy. Just that you will see he has makeup on and its hard enough in school as it is. You could try like a powder more than cream makeup like bare minerals (meant to cover well). I just think that a 13 year old boy is not going to be into putting makeup on.

I suggest going the doctors and don't let them give you any crap about cosmetic and so on. If its affecting his confidence then it needs to be treated. Ask to be referred to a Dermatologist. I suffer with excessive sweating and I let it get me down all my childhood and teen years even though no one really commented on it or noticed. It became a huge deal to me and I was so anxious that I might sweat that I would start sweating. Doctors tried to put me off saying just be anxiety and so on. I demanded to be referred to a dermatologist after watching Embarrassing Bodies and someone had my same problem.

Do you go into doctors office with your son? If so then i'd bring it up next time you go for another reason. Then its not just about going for that. I wouldn't mention my problem to my doctor as I thought it was silly and embarrassed when I was younger. I made my mum come with me when I was 21 and she spoke to the doctor rather than me.

Embarrassing bodies had someone with broken veins on face on it. Here is YouTube clip might help and get some answers so you know whats the next step. An article saying what options there is from Guardian and also a article about natural treatments at home with Vitamin E etc.

clare64

Thanks RachRuby,
I Understand your feeling re make-up, it would have to be natural looking so it is not detected!
I use Bare Escentuals mineral make-up, he has the same skin tone as me so I might try him with it but I feel that it may not cover it without looking obvious. It is also how I approach him about trying the make up the first place - I really do not want to make him feel that we see it as a big issue as well.
Thank you for the links which I will look at later.I hope you have received the treatment that you need and that your problem has been sorted out.
Many thanks
Clare

trailingspouse

If he's already self-conscious about it, then it's time to stop worrying about drawing attention to it!! Just say 'it's bothering you a bit, isn't it?' - and tell him you think the doctor might be able to help. If he's up for it, then off you go. If he's not sure, then suggest he could go either on his own or with you (he has some control over the situation, but the outcome will be the same), and leave it up to him to decide. It's his face, after all, but you're right to let him know what the options are.

Errata

Facial broken veins are something I have experience of. Makeup may disguise them, but it's not invisible and his school friends will spot it, sure as eggs, with potentially disastrous results.
The only effective treatment appears to be sclerotherapy (google it). Whether that will be available to him on the NHS is a different matter.

Fire_Fox

Should see the doctor, they need to identify the root cause. It may be cosmetic it may not.

mtbbuxton

My son had a spider naevus on his face treated on the NHS in 2007, when he was 11. It wasn't huge, but did affect his self confidence. I took him to the GP who said they could refer me to Dermatology, but that it wouldn't be treated as it was only cosmetic. Thankfully the Dermatologist took a different view and my son was referred for laser treatment and attended within a few weeks. It only took one treatment and it disappeared completely If they can't treat it on the NHS, the same clinics quite often offer treatment as a private patient quite reasonably.

M x

clare64

Thanks again for all the replies.
M - did the laser treatment hurt and did it make it look worse for a while. If that's the case would could consider going private, during the summer holidays!
That's another point, does he have to stay out of the sun?
Thanks
Clarex