Question: I have hardening of the arteries. What is this?
If excess levels of cholesterol occur in the bloodstream due to a poor diet or hereditary reasons, it may form deposits on the inside of the arteries. This occurs particularly at points of turbulence where an artery divides or bends.
If a surgeon feels these arteries, they are thicker and firmer than normal, and thus the term ‘hardening of the arteries’. Once it has occurred, medications can be used in mild cases to very slowly remove some of the cholesterol plaques, but in severe cases the only treatment is surgery to remove the deposits of cholesterol or bypass any blockage that may be caused by the deposits. It can be a quite serious disease if arteries supplying vital organs such as the heart and brain become narrowed or blocked.

Question: I have broken capillaries all over my nose and face, although I am only 32. This is most distressing to me. Can they be treated by sclerosant injections? Is there any other treatment?
Sclerosant injections are suitable for moderate-sized varicose veins in the legs, but are not suitable for the spider-like superficial blood vessels on the face or other parts of the body.
These disfiguring, surface veins are best dealt with by electrocautery or laser treatment. This will usually involve a referral to a plastic surgeon or dermatologist, but a small number of GPs also do this work.
The procedure is simple, and after a local anesthetic injection (or sometimes without, particularly with the laser treatment), a fine needle is placed into the offending capillary, and an electric current is passed through it for a few seconds to destroy the blood vessel. The laser burns the vessel through the skin, without an injection. Both methods leave a small white spot scar at the point of burning.