Is ruptured capillaries dangerous?

Capillary rupture is very common in daily life. It manifests as dilated capillaries visible to the naked eye. Traditional Chinese medicine attributes the cause of the disease to heat in the heart meridian and poor blood circulation. The causes of the disease are mainly divided into primary and secondary. It is easily affected by external stimulation, so you need to pay attention at all times. Many people worry that ruptured capillaries will be extremely dangerous, but as long as the treatment is timely, you can still recover your health.

1. Basic Content

In daily life, we often see some people's facial skin turn red, and we can see the dilated capillaries with the naked eye. Some of them appear as red or purple spots, dots, lines or star-shaped lesions. This is telangiectasia, commonly known as blood-red threads. It is a skin lesion that occurs on the face or trunk. Most of them are acquired, but some patients are congenital. Facial capillary dilation is the main cause of beauty problems. It is more common in women, and the clinical manifestations are filamentous, punctate, star-shaped or flaky erythema on the face. If you look closely, you can see many red blood vessels on the skin, like strands of red threads. Many ladies who love beauty are often troubled by their flushed faces, but many people may not know that red blood streaks will not only affect your beauty, but also your health, seriously affecting the skin's absorption of nutrients. Over time, it will lead to insufficient nutrient supply to the skin, causing symptoms of roughness, dryness and premature aging. In traditional Chinese medicine theory, it is called "red face", and the cause is attributed to heat in the heart meridian and poor blood circulation.

Blood vessels are distributed throughout the body's organs and are divided into arteries, veins and capillaries. Tiny arteries, veins and capillaries are distributed in the skin and mucous membranes. Capillary dilation refers to the filamentous, star-shaped or spider-web-like changes of these blood vessels on the surface of the skin or mucous membranes. It is bright red and does not fade after being pressed by a glass piece. It may be single or multiple and develop slowly or do not increase significantly after occurrence. It may be limited to a certain part or may be over a wide range. It may be a local change or a special manifestation of certain diseases. Most of them cannot disappear on their own, are benign, and affect beauty. Telangiectasia can be primary, such as vascular nevus, hereditary benign telangiectasia, etc. It can also be secondary to diseases such as scleroderma and rosacea.

2. Common Diseases

1. Congenital malformation of capillaries means that the capillary walls are congenitally weak and cannot contract. This disease usually occurs on the face, neck, back of the head, and scalp at birth or shortly after birth. It can be unilateral and scattered, or bilateral and multiple. Initially, there is a lesion of varying sizes, light red, dark red, or purple-red on the skin or mucous membrane, ranging from the size of a needle tip to a limb or half of the trunk. After crying, the color deepens, the boundaries are clear, the shapes vary, and it does not protrude above the skin, but is higher in some areas. After pressure, it fades partially or completely, and the surface becomes smooth. As age increases, children or young adults may have symptoms or nodular lesions on them, mostly occurring in the lower legs and feet, which may manifest as painful purple-blue nodules and plaques, which may also ulcerate.

Pathological capillary dilation in the upper and middle parts of the dermis may increase with age and extend to the deep dermis and subcutaneous tissue.

2. Spider capillary dilation often occurs in normal children, pregnant women and patients with liver disease. The cause is unknown, but may be related to estrogen. The lesions resemble spiders in shape, and radial capillary dilation can be seen with the naked eye, resembling spider legs. It is slightly raised and arterial pulsation can be seen after compression. The sizes vary, ranging from 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter. It often occurs on the face, neck, hands, and can also occur on the upper trunk. Most patients have a single lesion, often on one side. If multiple lesions occur, it is necessary to rule out liver disease. For example, spider telangiectasias that occur on the nasal mucosa and lips are difficult to differentiate from hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasias. If they occur in children, most of them persist and are difficult to resolve naturally. If it occurs in a pregnant woman, it is expected to disappear about 6 months after delivery. If she becomes pregnant again, there is a possibility of recurrence at the original location. It is not uncommon for the disease to persist.

3. Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by dilation of capillaries and venules accompanied by bleeding in the skin, mucous membranes and internal organs. The cause of the disease is still unknown. The basic pathological changes are congenital capillary contraction and relaxation defects, which are manifested by thin blood vessel walls. The walls of some capillaries, arterioles and venules are composed of only a layer of endothelial cells, and are surrounded by only a layer of muscleless, inelastic connective tissue. The blood vessels cannot contract, resulting in hemangioma-like enlargement of the capillaries, arterioles and venules, and arteriovenous fistulas may occur. Some patients have abnormal blood coagulation, and the fibrinogen activator component in the tissue around the capillaries increases, which increases the fibrinolytic activity and causes bleeding. Most cases start in childhood and the incidence rate increases with age. Typical skin lesions are: bright red or purple maculopapular rashes. The diameter is generally <4~5mm, and it may also appear as linear or spider-like capillary dilation with clear boundaries. It turns white after compression and recovers quickly when released. These skin lesions often persist and do not disappear on their own. Typical diagnostically significant skin lesions are clusters of tiny dilated capillaries and purple or bright red spots on the back of the hands. The skin is prone to occur on the face, ears, upper trunk, nail beds, lips, tongue, throat, and nasal mucosa. It may also affect internal organs such as the digestive tract, liver, spleen, lungs, meninges, and brain. Nosebleeds are the most prominent, especially in early childhood, and repeated nasal obstruction can lead to severe anemia. The degree of bleeding varies. The lesions are slight, about 1~4mm, slightly protruding, bright red dot-shaped or line-shaped capillary dilation in the nose. In fact, they are small fistulas connecting tiny veins. Local bleeding occurs after rupture. Next are the lip edge, soft palate, buccal mucosa, tongue root, tongue edge, bottom surface of the tongue, etc., all of which have dot-shaped capillary dilation, and may also have hair and stigma-shaped bleeding. If the internal organs are affected, coughing up blood, vomiting blood, blood in the urine and stool, and subarachnoid hemorrhage may occur. Such as dyspnea, cyanosis, polycythemia, and rhinoplasty in the lungs.

Pathology

In the area of ​​telangiectasia of the skin, large, irregular, dilated blood vessels with thin walls are seen. Laboratory examination showed anemia, which may be aggravated by repeated bleeding, and coagulation tests were normal. There is pulmonary arteriovenous fistula. Peripheral blood picture shows erythrocytes, normal coagulation time and platelets, and slightly reduced coagulation factor V. Recurrent nosebleeds in childhood gradually develop into dilation of the capillaries on the skin and mucous membranes, and even internal bleeding. Laboratory tests show no special abnormalities and there is a clear family history, so it is generally not difficult to diagnose.

4. Causes

Telangiectasia is generally divided into two categories: primary and secondary.

It is primary and mostly hereditary, and both parents have the phenomenon of red face.

The causes of secondary telangiectasia are complex, mainly the following:

(1) Climate and environmental factors. Long-term living in a relatively harsh living environment, such as the thin air in the plateau and skin hypoxia, leads to an increase in the number of red blood cells and compensatory dilation of blood vessels. Over time, vasoconstriction dysfunction causes permanent capillary dilation. or sailors, cooks, farmers and athletes who are exposed to wind, cold and heat for a long time.

(2) Hormone-dependent capillary dilation is often a sequelae of inappropriate treatment, such as the abuse of topical medications on the face (such as Fuqingsong, Piyanping, and Pikangshuang).

(3) Physical stimulation, such as temperature changes, causes the tolerance of capillaries to exceed the normal range, causing capillaries to dilate and rupture. Excessive sun exposure can cause chronic photodermatitis, dry skin, etc.

(4) Abuse of cosmetics or long-term "monthly skin care" and improper skin peeling can cause sequelae. The acidic components of skin peeling products destroy the protective effect of the skin's stratum corneum and the elasticity of capillaries, causing capillaries to dilate or rupture.

(5) Complications of certain local or systemic diseases, such as certain skin diseases (such as rosacea). There are also some people whose faces turn red easily due to unclear reasons. When they have this skin problem, such as when they are hot, emotionally excited, exercising vigorously, or drinking, not only will the color deepen, but the whole face will become flushed (i.e. red face, Guan Gong face), which is difficult to subside and affects the appearance. The faces of patients with telangiectasia appear redder than normal skin color. Some patients only have redness on both sides of their cheekbones, with round borders, and are jokingly called "red balls". This type of skin is thin and sensitive, and the face turns redder when it is too cold, too hot, or emotional. It mainly affects the appearance, and some people develop psychological problems because others often misunderstand that they are too shy.

For people who already have dilated or broken capillaries, special care should be taken in daily care. When choosing cosmetics, try to choose anti-allergic series and do not change cosmetics easily. For severe telangiectasia, you can go to the hospital for professional "redness removal" treatment, and you can also take some medicines for internal use, such as Xiaoyao Pills and Buzhong Yiqi Pills. In normal times, drink less alcohol, eat less blood-activating medicines and foods, and drink more chrysanthemum tea, etc.

Treatment

Telangiectasia has long been a difficult problem to treat in dermatology. Before the invention of new lasers, the commonly used methods include: cryotherapy, high-frequency electrosurgery, isotope radiotherapy, etc. Although some of these methods can achieve certain therapeutic effects, they are prone to cause serious complications such as ulcers, scars, and radiation necrosis, and cannot achieve the ideal cosmetic effect, which is unacceptable to people who love beauty.