Spider Veins

If the valves inside your blood vessels become weak (whether from age or genetic predisposition) and are unable to pump blood back to your heart efficiently, “the blood pools and causes the veins to enlarge,” said Dr. Robert J. Min, chair of radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City. That causes capillaries close to the skin’s surface to show up as little red squiggles, most commonly on the legs. And those, friends, are spider veins, Fox News reports.

Sclerotherapy: Using a tiny needle, a doctor injects the spider veins with a medicated solution that “causes them to collapse and permanently disappear,” said Dr. Fredric Brandt, a dermatologist.

Vascular laser: “The blood inside the veins absorbs the wavelength from this laser, creating heat, which contracts the veins,” said Richard G. Glogau, a clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Stretch Marks

When skin gets stretched too fast, as it can when you gain weight quickly, such as during pregnancy, or if you went through a growth spurt as a teenager, “the collagen and elastin fibers in the dermis rupture,” said clinical professor Richard G. Glogau.

The result is scars deep within the skin―stretch marks.

Pulse dye laser: The light from this laser is absorbed by the pigment in the irritated area, which heats the blood vessels and makes the vessel walls collapse, so marks are much less obvious.

Excimer laser: The beam “increases pigment production, so eventually the silver or white lines become the color of the rest of your skin,” Goldberg said.

What Doesn’t Work: Over-the-counter stretch mark creams, which claim to rebuild collagen but don’t.

Cellulite

Contrary to what many people think, cellulite is nothing more than regular fat. Excess weight can cause cellulite to become more prominent, but even thin people can have it.

Endermologie: A technician runs a vacuum-like suction tube over your. The bands under the skin are stimulated and stretched temporarily. You’ll need a treatment every eight weeks.

Cellulite creams and gels: In the short term, creams and gels can make cellulite appear less obvious. Ingredients such as caffeine make the skin swell, and polymers form a light film on the skin as they dry, pulling it smooth.

Scars

As skin heals from a wound, it can produce too much collagen and a scar forms. The tendency to scar is genetic, so there’s not much you can do to prevent scars, though you can minimize the effects.

Silicone products: A sheet of silicone placed over a scar (after the wound has healed) or a cream, such as Scar Fade, rubbed in daily.

Fraxel laser: this laser targets pinpoint-wide areas of skin, resurfacing the top and boosting collagen production underneath. After several sessions, indented scars should be leveled off.

What Doesn’t Work

Rubbing in vitamin-E oil.