RD.COM — If you could Photoshop your face, you’d likely edit out any broken capillaries, those unsightly red spots that show up on our cheeks, chin, and nose area. Here’s how to do that in real life.
Broken capillaries or spider veins, officially called telangiectasia, are tiny thread-like veins that we see on the surface of the skin. “When the walls of these blood vessels widen and narrow suddenly, they may become permanently damaged—and dilated, making them more visible,” says Mark H. Schwartz, MD, FACS, a New York City plastic surgeon and Clinical Assistant Professor of Plastic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College. When the vessels don’t heal properly, they can end up look like tiny blood spots or a network of fine tree branches.