Telangiectasia tales

Telangiectasia is the technical term for dilated blood vessels (not the name of a Russian princess!) often erroneously called “broken capillaries” (capillaries are not in fact broken, they are just dilated). These small blood vessels are usually 0.5 to 1 mm in size and they appear as red, blue or purple lines that crisscross your face like little rivers. Though they are common on the face near the nose, chin or cheeks, they can potentially occur anywhere in the body, legs being the next common site. Though they can occur without any apparent reason in some, this article is about the causes and associations of this asymptomatic condition of considerable cosmetic concern.