How to Get Vein-Free Legs for Your Wedding (Hint: It’s Easy, Painless and Local!)


iStockphoto/Thinkstock

iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Your pre-wedding gussy-up list, we’re guessing, looks something like this: whiten teeth, schedule regular facials, get hair cut and highlighted at a precise number of weeks out.

Some of you, however, might have a few items that must be tended to outside of your usual day spa, and if garish purple spider veins have taken up residence anywhere from your hands to your face to those pesky patches on the outsides of your knees, you’re not alone: Vascular surgeon Charles Dietzek of South Jersey’s Vein & Vascular Institute says he often sees both brides and their mothers who want to banish the unsightly squatters before the Big Day.

His fix: a 15-minute sclerotherapy session in which he injects a medicinal solution into the ugly little guys, which irritates them and causes them to collapse and be absorbed into your body. The needles used are so teeny-tiny that you’ll barely feel them as he makes his way across the patches that bother you most, and the thigh-high, lace-topped compression hose you’ll wear for the next few days slide on easily under pants. A few weeks or months later, you’ll be walking down that aisle—and lounging on that ’moon—with the unmarred skin you’ve missed. $375 for a 15-minute session.

This article originally appeared in the spring/summer 2016 issue of Philadelphia Wedding. 

{Note: PW Editor Carrie tried out a sclerotherapy session with Dr. Dietzek, and will be bringing her first-hand account of “vein-zapping,” as she calls it, to the blog, so stay tuned!}

To read more about bridal health, nutrition and wellness, go here; to read more about bridal beauty, go here

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