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Home > Skin & Beauty > Skin Conditions > What Causes Broken Capillaries on Your Face and How to Treat Them

What Causes Broken Capillaries on Your Face and How to Treat Them

December 21, 2021 - Updated on December 28, 2021
8 min read
By Akanksha Shah Sanghvi, MD, Clinical Dermatology

In this article:

  • Causes of Broken Capillaries Under the Skin
  • Treatment Modalities for Broken Capillaries
  • Diagnosing Broken Capillaries
  • Final Word

Broken capillaries are not painful or life threatening but can lead to the appearance of unsightly reddish or bluish webs on the skin. If they develop on your face, they can be hard to ignore.

broken capillaries on face: causes and treatment

This article will help you understand the factors that might trigger this condition, how to avoid it, and the available treatments if it does occur.

Causes of Broken Capillaries Under the Skin

In a healthy body, normal-functioning blood vessels constantly expand and contract to accommodate different amounts of blood. Capillaries act as connectors between the veins and arteries in the circulatory system. (1)

The tiniest blood vessels in the human body, capillaries are understandably quite delicate. When these vessels become enlarged or dilated, more blood rushes through them, exerting greater weight against their walls, causing ruptures. As the blood leaks into the surrounding tissue, the overlying skin appears red.

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Plus, the broken capillaries appear as reddish-blue lines on the surface, mainly because they lie just below the surface of the skin.

Broken capillaries can develop anywhere on the body but are most prominent around the nose, cheeks, and lips. (2)

Quite a few causes might lead to this phenomenon:

1. Genetics

If someone in your family frequently suffers from broken capillaries, you may be more susceptible to them too. Predisposition to this condition is passed down through generations, and therefore some people are more prone to it by birth.

2. Prolonged sun exposure

prolonged sun exposure can cause rupture of capillaries

Prolonged exposure to the sun without sunscreen can cause overexpansion of capillaries, causing them to break. Also, if you are sunburnt, the skin in the affected area starts to peel off and thereby become thinner. As a result, broken capillaries underneath the surface become even more prominent.

3. Alcohol abuse

Your brain regulates the functioning of all the blood vessels in the body. Drinking too much alcohol interferes with this control and leads to enlarged blood vessels, which might trigger telangiectasia. This is also the reason a persistently red face is one of the earliest signs of alcohol abuse.

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4. Sneezing or coughing

People who are naturally prone to broken capillaries may develop them after a strong sneeze or cough. The sudden forceful pressure can rupture the blood vessels.

5. Sudden exposure to extreme temperatures

Exposure to high temperatures, such as in saunas or steam baths and during the peak of summer, might dilate the capillaries to the extent of breakage.  

6. Overuse of steroid creams

Steroids stimulate the proliferation of endothelial cells that compose the insides of your blood vessels. This makes your capillaries expand, often to the point of rupturing. (3)

Whilst topical corticosteroids (creams, ointments, and lotions) are helpful in the management of inflammatory skin disorders, overusing them can cause thinning or atrophy of the skin (due to the reduction of collagen) and prominent telangiectasia.

7. Aging

aging can contribute to broken capillaries over time

Your blood vessels get their flexibility from a structural protein called collagen, which is also the most abundant component of the skin. But there is a progressive decline in the body’s collagen-building capacity with age. Thus, your skin becomes thinner and more see-through, as is evident in elderly populations.

Plus, your blood vessels become less elastic and therefore prone to breakage. Both these factors increase the probability and visibility of broken capillaries.

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8. Medical condition

Rosacea is an inflammatory skin condition characterized by blushing or reddening of the skin in patches that might last for weeks at a time. The skin inflammation also makes the blood vessels expand and become more visible on the surface. (4)

9. Pregnancy

Pregnancy triggers hormonal changes in the body, including a rise in estrogen levels. Estrogen is a female hormone, an excess of which can induce spider telangiectasia, a condition wherein the broken capillaries appear as a fine reddish web under the skin. Fortunately, this pregnancy-specific skin problem usually resolves post-partum.

10. Excessive scrubbing with harsh cleansers

Overscrubbing with harsh exfoliants can damage the skin and the capillaries underneath it. Not only does it lead to broken capillaries, but also it weakens the top layer of the skin, making the reddish splotches even more visible.

Treatment Modalities for Broken Capillaries

If you are genetically predisposed to developing broken capillaries, there is no permanent cure for your condition. However, there are treatment modalities that can reduce the frequency and severity of the problem.

Your treatment plan will have to be customized according to your diagnosis. Here are some of the commonly used interventions for treating broken capillaries:

Topical treatments:

topical treatment options for broken capillaries under the skin

If you are suffering from prominent telangiectasia, you can significantly benefit from these topical treatment options that gradually fade the visible signs of the disorder:

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1. Retinoid creams

Retinoids are derivative compounds of vitamin A that have been scientifically proven to increase the production of collagen, the most important and abundant structural protein in skin cells. More collagen leads to faster skin cell production and proliferation, leading to faster skin repair. (5)

Plus, collagen adds volume to the skin in the treated area. As the skin becomes thicker, the bruising becomes less apparent.

2. Repair creams

Topical repair creams such as brimonidine work by temporarily shrinking the underlying blood vessels to diminish the redness of the bruise. 

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3. Peptide creams

Peptide creams boost the quantity and quality of collagen production to help thicken the skin. This automatically reduces the visibility of the broken capillaries on the skin’s surface.

For instance, palmitoyl tripeptide-8 has shown significant effects on the capillaries, reducing the number of dilated vessels by 30% and extent of dilation by 51%. This helps to reduce the frequency and severity of the condition. (6)

4. Vitamin K creams

Vitamin K helps to repair and strengthen the broken capillaries under the skin (7) and it is known to reduce the inflammation caused by telangiectasia and speed up the healing process.

In-office treatments:

Broken blood vessels are a much deeper issue compared to sunspots or scars. Sometimes, more intensive treatments are needed to completely resolve the condition.

The following in-office treatment options are quite intensive and require professional supervision:

1. Intense pulsed light (IPL) therapy

IPL therapy is one of the most popular treatment choices for treating facial telangiectasia. (8) It uses intense pulsed light, which skips the surface layer of the skin and directly penetrates the second layer underneath. It directly damages and disintegrates the broken blood vessels in this layer.

Since the energy of the pulsed light is distributed over a larger target area, this treatment covers larger portions of skin in a single session. (9)

2. Laser treatment

laser treatment for broken capillaries on face

A diode laser is used to heat up the damaged blood vessels with moderate pulses of light, leading to the collapse of the vessels without harming the surrounding skin. (10) After the therapy, tissue from the collapsed vessels just dissolves, leaving no trace of the telangiectasia on the skin.

3. Sclerotherapy

Sclerotherapy is a noninvasive procedure where sclerosing chemicals, such as tetradecyl sulfate, polidocanol, and hypertonic saline solutions, are injected into the damaged blood vessels to erase them. (11)

The sclerosing agents obstruct the blood flow in the blood vessels, eventually causing their reabsorption by the body. (11) Thus, this treatment leaves no traces of the broken capillaries in the area.

Diagnosing Broken Capillaries

diagnosis of broken capillaries on face

Broken capillaries cause characteristic bruising that can be identified by doctors simply by looking at them. So, doctors closely examine the bruise to diagnose broken capillaries and determine the extent of damage.

This examination may be followed by a series of questions regarding your lifestyle, the products you use on your skin, the medications you are taking, and your diet. Your answers will help the doctor understand the reason for this vascular damage, and then your doctor will recommend the appropriate treatment accordingly.

Final Word

Once your capillaries are damaged, the only way forward is to remove the traces of the shattered vessels. There is no way to restore them to normal function anymore.

It is easier to prevent broken capillaries than to heal them. However, you have to follow the right techniques and remedies for this. If the problem persists, do not hesitate to visit a doctor.

Continue Reading Continue ReadingBroken Capillaries on Face: 5 Home Remedies and 8 Self-Care Tips
References
  1. dela Paz NG, D’Amore PA. Arterial versus venous endothelial cells. Cell and tissue research. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4105978/. Published January 2009.
  2. Nakano LCU, Cacione DG, Baptista‐Silva JCC, Flumignan RLG. Treatment for telangiectasias and reticular veins. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6483333/. Published July 10, 2017.
  3. Abraham A, Roga G. Topical steroid-damaged skin. Indian journal of dermatology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4171912/. Published September 2014.
  4. Vemuri RC, Gundamaraju R, Sekaran SD, Manikam R. Major pathophysiological correlations of rosacea: A complete clinical appraisal. International journal of medical sciences. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441063/. Published May 5, 2015.
  5. Zasada M, Budzisz E. Retinoids: Active molecules influencing skin structure formation in cosmetic and dermatological treatments. Postepy dermatologii i alergologii. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6791161/. Published August 2019.
  6. Resende DISP, Ferreira MS, Sousa-Lobo JM, Sousa E, Almeida IF. Usage of synthetic peptides in cosmetics for sensitive skin. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8400021/. Published July 21, 2021.
  7. Zhang Y, Yin J, Ding H, Zhang C, Gao Y-S. Vitamin K2 ameliorates damage of blood vessels by glucocorticoid: A potential mechanism for its protective effects in glucocorticoid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head in a rat model. International journal of biological sciences. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4910597/. Published April 28, 2016.
  8. Goldberg DJ. Current trends in intense pulsed light. The Journal of clinical and aesthetic dermatology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3390232/. Published June 2012.
  9. González-Rodríguez AJ, Lorente-Gual R. Current indications and new applications of intense pulsed light. Actas Dermo-Sifiliográficas (English Edition). 2015;106(5):350-364. doi:10.1016/j.adengl.2015.04.001. https://sci-hub.3800808.com/10.1016/j.adengl.2015.04.001.
  10. Wall TL. Current concepts: Laser treatment of adult vascular lesions. Seminars in plastic surgery. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2884838/. Published August 2007.
  11. Sandean DP. Spider veins. StatPearls [Internet]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK563218/. Published September 24, 2021.
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