What it is
The same Lynton IPL platform used for hair removal, set up here to target haemoglobin rather than hair pigment. The light energy is absorbed by the blood in the vessel, which collapses and is cleared away by the body over the following weeks.
Straight after treatment the vessel often looks a little darker or more obvious than before. That’s the collapsed blood sitting inside it, not a new vessel or a sign anything’s gone wrong, and it fades from view as the body clears it away.
Thread veins, spider veins, red veins, broken capillaries: different names for the same thing, and IPL may help reduce their appearance. Everything you can buy over the counter just sits on top of the skin.
Appointments run 15 to 45 minutes depending on the area, and most people describe the sensation as a warm snap rather than anything painful. Treatment is carried out by our NVQ Level 3 qualified therapists.
What it treats
This treatment covers a group of related concerns:
- Facial thread veins and broken capillaries, particularly around the nose and cheeks where small vessels sit close to the surface
- General redness and flushing across the cheeks
- Rosacea and rosacea-related redness
- Post-sun capillaries that build up after years of UV exposure
- Active acne
- Overall skin rejuvenation
How your concern shapes the sessions
Nose-side veins and general cheek flushing tend to clear in fewer sessions than widespread redness, simply because there’s less area and fewer vessels to treat. Your therapist will give you a realistic session count at the patch test once they’ve seen what you’re dealing with.
Post-sun capillaries and post-sun pigmentation often turn up together, since both come from the same years of UV exposure. If pigmentation, not broken vessels, is the main thing bothering you, IPL pigmentation removal is the treatment built for that side of it.
Will they come back? (and can the NHS help)
A treated vessel may remain clear, but new thread veins can develop elsewhere over time. Results vary, and further sessions may be needed.
What can happen is that new thread veins form elsewhere over time, driven by the same things that caused the first ones: ageing, sun exposure and rosacea in particular. That isn’t the treatment failing. It’s a new vessel, and it responds to a further session the same way the first one did.
Sun exposure and rosacea flare-ups are the two triggers most likely to bring new vessels on, so daily SPF and keeping rosacea managed where you can is the simplest way to protect your results.
The NHS treats thread veins as a cosmetic concern rather than a medical one, so it doesn’t fund removal. If you want them gone, IPL privately is the route most people take.
What thread vein removal costs
A consultation and patch test comes first and costs £32, redeemable against your treatment. At that appointment, your therapist applies the light to a small area of the affected skin, checks how your skin reacts, and only books your full treatment once that’s confirmed. It’s a short appointment on its own, not a full session, and it’s also where your therapist works out which pricing band your area falls into.
Pricing is then set by the size of the area rather than by named body part, running from £75 for a small area through £110 for medium and £165 for large, up to £249 for a very large one. So a couple of veins beside the nose sits in a very different bracket to full-face redness. That’s fairer than one flat price for everyone, since a small cluster of veins takes far less time and product than treating full facial redness.
Buy three sessions and you get 10 percent off. Most vascular concerns need more than one session to properly clear, so it’s worth asking about the course price at your patch test.
Book at any of our three salons
IPL thread vein removal runs at all three of our salons: Clifton Down, Westbury on Trym and Westbury Park on Coldharbour Road. Walk-ins are welcome for the initial patch test at any salon, or book online in advance. If you’re unsure whether IPL is right for what you’re seeing in the mirror, ask at the patch test. An in-person look tells us far more than a photo ever could.