Treatments Your Provider May Prescribe
The diagnosis of a spider angioma is usually easy to make, but some lesions may not be obvious and may require a skin biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. The biopsy procedure involves:
- Numbing the skin with an injectable anesthetic.
- Sampling a small piece of skin by using a flexible razor blade, a scalpel, or a tiny cookie cutter (called a "punch biopsy"). If a punch biopsy is taken, a stitch (suture) or two may be placed and will need to be removed 6–14 days later.
- Having the skin sample examined under the microscope by a specially trained physician (dermatopathologist).
If the diagnosis of spider angioma has been confirmed, no treatment is necessary. However, if your child is self-conscious about the area or if it frequently bleeds, the doctor may offer one of the following procedures:
- Burning with an electric needle (electrocautery or electrodesiccation)
- Using a laser to destroy the central blood vessel
Self-Care Guidelines
