About Those Scary Hands

Our hands have certain disadvantages when it comes to aging. First, the skin is quite thin, and it thins more with age. Second, the veins and tendons remain the same height while the skin and tissue around them decrease. Third, our hands are almost always exposed, unlike the other skin on our bodies.

Add this up, and throw in declining collagen production, and suddenly the backs of your hands can look like they should belong on a Tales from the Crypt Halloween Marathon on AMC.

But your hands don’t have to be scary. Dr. Heeringa has the perfect treatment to get rid of those unsightly raised veins.

Permanently Addressing The Issue

You may have heard of people opting to head to a med spa or plastic surgeon to have dermal fillers injected into the backs of their hands. Fillers will mask the raised tendons and blood vessels that are the problem, but they only do it temporarily. And we mean temporarily — as in just 6 months. Then you’ll have to go back in and have more filler injected…forever. Sound like some Sisyphusian fun?

Microphlebectomy Is Permanent

In contrast to the temporary cosmetic fix of fillers, Dr. Heeringa performs microphlebectomy.

Here’s how it works. After numbing the vein and the surrounding tissue, Dr. Heeringa makes a series of tiny punctures down the line of the targeted vein. He then goes in with a special hook-like instrument through those tiny holes and pulls out pieces of the vein. He works his way up the vein until the visible, offending portion is fully removed.

This sounds kind of terrifying — well, it is almost Halloween — but it’s really not. Our patients from around Northern Michigan don’t have any downtime after Dr. Heeringa removes unwanted veins from the backs of their hands with microphlebectomy. In fact, the micro-punctures used are so small they don’t even require stitches. They show up as a series of dots for a few weeks before fully vanishing.

Crazy, right? Plus, you say goodbye to those unsightly blood vessels for good. And don’t worry about the blood running through them; the body instantly reroutes any blood in these veins to an adjacent, healthier offering.

Want to do something about those scary backs of your hands this Halloween? Call us at Northern Michigan Vein Specialists, (231) 936-2068, to make an appointment.