Telangiectasia

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**Telangiectasia**
*Classifications and external resources*
ICD-10	G11.3, I78.0, M34.1
ICD-9	362.15, 448.0

Telangiectasias, or spider veins, are small enlarged blood vessels near the surface of the skin; usually they measure only a few millimeters. They can develop anywhere on the body but commonly on the face around the nose, cheeks, and chin. They can also develop on the legs, specifically on the upper thigh, below the knee joint, and around the ankles.

These are actually developmental abnormalities but can closely mimic the behaviour of benign vascular neoplasms. They may be composed of abnormal aggregations of arterioles, capillaries, or venules.

Chronic treatment with topical corticosteroids may lead to telangiectasia.[1]

1 Features
2 Associated conditions
3 Treatment
4 External link

[edit] Features

Telangiectasias can result in nevus flammeus (port-wine stain), which is a flat birthmark on the head or neck that spontaneously regresses. A port-wine stain, if present, will grow proportionately with the child. There is a high association with Sturge-Weber syndrome, a nevus formation in the skin supplied by the trigeminal nerve and associated with glaucoma, meningeal angiomas, and mental retardation. Finally, spider telangiectasias are a radial array of tiny arterioles that commonly occur in pregnant women and in patients with hepatic cirrhosis. In men, they are related to high estrogen levels secondary to liver disease.

[edit] Associated conditions

Telangiectasias may occur in a number of diseases, including (ICD-10 codes are provided):

(M34.1) CREST syndrome (a variant of scleroderma)
(I78.0) hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (Rendu-Osler-Weber syndrome)
(G11.3) Ataxia telangiectasia

[edit] Treatment

Telangiectasias are often treated with laser or IPL therapy. There have been medication based treatments available for over 50 years. A Sclerosant medication is injected into the diseased vein so it hardens and eventually shrinks away.