A few years ago I started walking my dogs in all weather by the sea. I walked in sleet, snow, winds that hurt and hail.

Even though this has now stopped I noticed at the time a few red veins in my cheeks. Having read online they appear when you go from extreme cold weather to a warm house. Now I have lots of them covering my face, and even a few that have burst causing a small red spot type mark.

I didn't really care too much, but my mum who can't see very well pointed out my 'rash' at the weekend. I felt immediately self conscious.

I have tried BB cream and foundations, but they don't cover them. Does anyone know of a cream or lotion I could use to fade the lines or a better coverage foundation that isn't too thick as I don't want to look too made up all the time. I read somewhere about a vitamin cream that could help, but would it work ?

There is vein wave. Expensive but works and is safe. There are other treatments involving lasers but I don't know much about them. I don't think there are any creams that would work although there are probably many that claim to.

And wear moisturiser in cold weather to protect your skin and stop them getting any worse.
Last edited by Mint : 01-11-2015 at 08:52

Laser treatment works and is worth it. Choose your practitioner carefully though.

Boots No7 do a skin calming lotion called No7 Calm Skin that you put on under moisturizer. I use this then CC cream for every day use. I use a full coverage foundation also from No7 or YSL if I'm having a night out. If you can afford to have laser treatment then great but the skin calming lotion from Boots is OK for a slight to medium difference although I've been using it for some time and it hasn't 100% gone. It has made a difference though. Nivea also do a sensitive skin moisturiser that helps against redness. I agree that you should always moisturise when you go out or if you have central heating on now winter is here. Always use a moisturizer with a sun screen in it too as sun damage won't help matters. Things like alcohol and spicy food can make redness worse too. I find that a colour corrector with a green tint under foundation works too. Just go easy on it and make sure it sinks into your skin so you neutralise redness without having a green face! Really it doesn't show up green if you only use a bit. I use it a lot and never have a green tinge.
http://www.boots.com/en/No7-Colour-C...y%20-%20Beauty

http://www.boots.com/en/No7-Calm-Ski...-30ml_1437076/

Thank you Pink Smurf (good name BTW).

After limited response on this thread I looked at another thread about skin conditions and someone mentioned a Clinique cream which helps with skin issues. I bought a tub and im slapping it on morning and night now and have been for 3 days. I am hopeful it will work as my skin really doesn't look good. I look like I enjoy the wine a little too much (which I do, but my skin looks like I sit around street corners swigging from a bottle).

If the Clinique cream fails I will definitely look into your suggestions. Im afraid laser treatment is out of my price range. I almost died having to spend £32 ish on the Clinique cream !!!!

Clinique redness solutions is a fab foundation with buildable coverage. Covers my spotty, veiny face

There are a few products but like with anything some work for some people and not on others! I think that green works to lessen the appearance of red? Someone told me that anyway! Dermalogica have a great range of products for skin affected by pollution, weather, sensitivity and all sorts.

It can cost between £40-£150 to get them removed which is quite painful but not agonising, but otherwise they are quite a pain to cover up!

Nat xo

After thinking about it and spending a fortune on creams that do nothing ... I am booked to have laser surgery on Saturday. It am ever so slightly terrified. Not due to the pain while its taking place - but the after affects. I have read that your skin is very dry, red and flaky and that you shouldn't book an events within a week or so of having treatment. I heal slowly, so it is a concern.

Good luck. Hope it goes well for you and that you will be pleased with the results.

I hope it goes well for you. I agree that the money spent on all the creams could be saved up and spent on laser. I might ask for it for next year's Xmas! I assume the effects are permanent? Put your feet up afterwards with a couple of good DVDs.

Well, I went on Saturday and had a chat with the therapist lady who told me it would be bad practice to do my entire face. So instead we chose a patch on my cheek and she concentrated on that. The thread veins are now black which means they are dead. I now have to wait for them to disintegrate. In the meantime I look like someone has punched me in the cheek as the area worked on is black. A little worried what my face will look like when I go back for the rest of the work !!!

I have been told it will take upto a fortnight for the area to clear dependant on how quickly you heal, so I will wait until then and if the thread veins have gone then I will definitely go back for the whole lot.

Bear with the current look as it really does work. I had it done a couple of years ago and I was so scabby and sore afterwards I was terrified of what would be revealed underneath. It took a couple of weeks to clear up, but all signs of the threadveins had gone and no other scarring appeared.

I would say though, that you need to be extremely careful with sun protection afterwards. In one area of my face where I had them removed, I ended up with a bit of sun damage because I didn't apply spf often enough and that is much more unsightly than the veins ever were. Now I never leave the house without a good spf on my face.

I was advised to wear sun protection from spring to end of autumn. She said that as I am investing in my face I should try and keep it looking good with factor 50 on every day. I will have to get into the habit as I am lazy with sun protection.

As the veins are primarily at the top of my cheeks she did say it could be my glasses doing the damage as the rays pass through onto the top of my cheeks. She could have a point ?

The area I had done doesn't look as bad today already, and im only 3 days in. I am desperate to know what it will look like when the bruising goes. Next time I go they will work on both cheeks and then (if I want to) I would have to book another session which would deal with my nose, chin etc ... but the cheeks are my main issue.

I've got a little sun damage on my face and it looks just like rosy cheeks ..I've never used any sun protection either so I guess I didn't help this. ..but .....if it's hot or I drink alcohol it looks like I'm flushed and makes me feel a bit self conscious and it won't go away quickly. I'd like some laser treatment as this seems to possibly the best solution.but the cost worries me. Some clinics want a consultation fee and the price varies. I havent got pots to waste ...spend ... so Is it best to go to your gp and ask for their advice first.

Your GP could help as they would identify the problem. If you have rosacea then creams might help you. I had thread veins which were very prominent on the skin all the time and these were probably caused by the steroids I slapped on my face as a kid when I had acne. I also didn't bother with any other sun screen apart from what was already in my normal daily moisturiser.

I did go for a consultation which was free, and she recommended the clinic I ended up going to. I went to the clinic and they charged me £40 to have a small area looked at. I got to pick the area I wanted them to deal with - so I picked a bad patch. It was probably an area the size of a 10 pence piece. They said it would be bad practice to laser my entire face ... just in case something went wrong.

I have to say I am delighted with the results. When I go back they will charge me £95 for 15 mins, but they should be able to do both cheeks in 15 mins. If I then went back for my nose / chin to be done (which I don't know if I will or not) that will be another 15 minute session.

So - that's the cost (in my clinic anyway) for your information, so its entirely up to you. I didn't bother with my GP and I knew he could do bugger all about thread veins.

Thanks. Youve been really helpful.
I think the cost is okay compared to when you have one veneer at the dentists.