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Blisters After Sclerotherapy

asked 1 year ago by New York5005 in New York, NY
Latest answer by Margaret Mann, MD
Question viewed 1,307 times
Tags: blister

I have some long thin blisters at the injection site as well as large bean shaped blisters. They are painful. The doctor tried to tell me they came from tape, I find this hard to believe. I think he missed the veins and instead injected the solution into my skin. What caused this reaction, and should I expect that the veins will still be there when the bruising and blisters heal?

8 answers to Blisters After Sclerotherapy

+2

Blister from friction and tape

As a vein specialist who does a lot of sclerotherapy in my office, I have unfortunately seen this type of reaction before. Fortunately it rarely occurs and tends to happen in my patients who are very active after sclerotherapy treatments. It results from friction of the skin against the tape and compression wrapping. Much like wearing a misfitted pair of shoes that causes blisters, friction from the compression rubs against the skin to cause blisters after sclerotherapy,... more
Margaret Mann, MD

Cleveland Dermatologic Surgeon
+2

Contact Dermatitis

The large bullae and much of what is seen is due to an allergic contact dermatitis to the adhesive and not extravasation of the sclerosing agent. The same would hold for the red streaks unless you tell me adhesive was not used in this direction.    I would recommend follow up with a dermatologist ( if a dermatologist was not the injector)  to elucidate your allergy, probably through patch tests. These are discs or strips impregnated with various chemicals to... more
Arnold R. Oppenheim, MD

Virginia Beach Dermatologist
+2

Blisters from Tape

Most likely your doctor is correct and the blisters come from the tape which was placed on the skin with too much tension. I do not think that your therapy is compromisezed in any way because of the blisters. You may want to ask that your doctor use a paper tape next time or try to avoid tape all together. For now treat the blisters as if they were burns. Keep them klean and under a non-sticky dressing.
Victoria Karlinsky, MD

Manhattan General Surgeon
+1

Contact Dermatitis

Extravasation issues aside, the blisters seen in the picture look like a "tape reaction" or contact dermatitis. The blisters or bullae are epidermal.  This should have no effect on the results of your sclerotherapy.
Stephen Prendiville, MD

Fort Myers Facial Plastic Surgeon
+1

Sclerotherapy for spider or varicose veins

It is difficult if not impossible to predict what caused the blisters in this situation. It could be due to the shear or stress of the dressing or to inadvertent extravasation of the sclerosant in to the skin. With gentle wound care these should heal uneventfully. It is not unusual to require several sessions to achieve successful therapy of varicose or spider veins.
Otto Joseph Placik, MD

Chicago Plastic Surgeon
+1

Blistering after Sclerotherapy

I understand that you are frustrated and angry with your outcome but this is NOT the time to round up "the usual suspects". There will be plenty of time to do that later IF your suspicionsare right. Instead, I would advise you to cooperate with your doctor and solve the predicament you are in. Blisters indicate tissue damage (as may be seen in some 2nd degree burns). This CAN be caused by harming the tissues with extravasation of the vein irritant but may also be caused by tape which was... more
Peter A. Aldea, MD

Memphis Plastic Surgeon
+1

Sclerotherapy

The blisters you show are not a typical reaction to the sclerosing agents usually used in the U.S. What was the material injected? Blisters like this could come from reaction to tape adhesive or tape put with a stretch on the tale. so it creates a friction on the skin and causes blisters. Sclerotherapy for spider veins may require more than one session to get rid of them.
Samir Shureih, MD

Baltimore Plastic Surgeon

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