By Clyde Noel

Males and females both spend a good amount of time and money trying to look as beautiful on the outside as they feel on the inside. As people age, they want to remain as “youngish” looking as possible.

Encouraged by the success of last month’s Botox party, Lynda Newlon, owner of Acacia C on Main Street, has scheduled another educational meeting on women’s issues for her customers and friends 7 p.m. Tuesday, at Acacia C, 270 Main St.

Dr. M. Dean Vistnes., will discuss varicose and spider veins and the different options for treating them.

Spider veins are small visible superficial blood vessels that appear red or blue. Most people get them on the legs, but frequently they can occur on the face or elsewhere.

“They are very frustrating because they show up where you don’t want them as you age,” said Vistnes. “They occur in your early 30s or after a pregnancy as a broken blood vessel, but they can be treated easily.”

Larger dilated blood vessels called varicose veins, raised above the skin surface, may be associated with spider veins. They can be treated with sclerotherapy or intravascular laser.

Another frustration is rosacea, a common skin disease that causes redness and swelling on the face for both male and female patients. It may begin as a tendency to flush or blush easily and progress to persistent redness in the center of the face. As the disease progresses, small blood vessels start to appear around the reddened area.

Vistnes treats his patients with “no down time procedures.” It’s an easy office treatment that takes 30 minutes and the patient can go back to work and no one knows they were there.

“Broken blood vessels, either vascular or spider, can be treated easily,” Vistnes said. “We call it a ‘no down time procedure.’”

Sclerotherapy is one of the forms of treatment Vistnes uses. After several treatments, most patients can expect a 50 percent to 90 percent improvement. Fading is gradual usually over several months. Disappearance of spider veins is usually successful, but similar veins may appear in the same general area.

“There is a big demand for treatment of skin disorders,” Vistnes said. “We are going to open a Medi-spa in downtown Palo Alto next March.

Vistnes maintains a full-time practice in aesthetic surgery and nonsurgical treatments in Palo Alto. He recognizes the growing demand for noninvasive procedures such as laser hair removal, skin rejuvenation, collagen, Botox and microdermabrasion. He has a reputation as a quality provider of those services in the Bay Area.

Vistnes is board certified in plastic surgery. A graduate of Stanford Medical School, he spent six years in plastic surgery residency at Stanford and a year in Nashville doing cosmetic surgery on a fellowship.

For more information, logon to www.vistnes.com.

For more information, on the Acacia C meeting, call 941-5388.