Telangiectasia, of the variety called essential or idiopathic to denote its unknown cause, is an uncommon skin disorder in which telangiectases, distended capillaries forming red skin spots, develop and gradually spread. This tends to primarily affect women between 30 and 40 years old. Telangiectases usually begin to appear on lower extremities and progress upward to the trunk, arms and face. General health is unaffected, laboratory tests yield normal results and eyes are only rarely involved.
Symptoms
The major symptom of essential telangiectasia, ET, is cosmetic, especially if the permanently dilated capillaries form red spots on your face, as seen in Mayo Clinic photographs. Telangiectases can also develop as a side effect of other conditions, but the appearance is generally the same wherever found. Health and a sense of well-being are unaffected by this benign condition, which usually progresses only slowly, over many years. However, in some hereditary forms of telangiectassia, neurological symptoms and hemorrhage help clinicians distinguish ET from more dangerous disorders with a similar outward appearance, as reported in 1998 research conducted at the Ophthalmology Clinic of the Christian Albrechts University of Kiel, Germany.
Case Study
The Albrechts University study reported on a 1997 examination of a 78-year-old woman admitted for treatment of a cataract in her left eye. She was seen to have marked telangiectases in the whites of both eyes, unrelated to the cataract, and widespread telangiectases on the skin of her face, trunk, arms and legs. She appeared to have no other symptoms, no internal diseases or bleeding abnormalities. Except for the age of this patient, this report is consistent with the generally benign course of ET, even in rare cases of eye involvement.
Treatment Research
A 39-year-old woman who was examined in the Department of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, as reported in the "Journal of the American Medical Association," had a seven-year history of ET. The condition began on her feet and progressed up both legs. The red lesions completely and permanently disappeared after a three-month oral course of the well-tolerated and commonly prescribed antibiotic, tetracycline. Bacteria susceptible to tetracycline are associated with ET, but other chemical properties of tetracycline appear to alter skin capillaries.
Variant ET
Telangiectatic skin lesions are also seen in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, also known as Rendu-Osler-Weber disease, in which a rare eye-related symptom is blood-tinged tears. This hereditary form of telangiectasia is distinguished from ET by also causing nose bleeds and gastric bleeding, according to a 2008 case report in the journal, "Archives of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology."
References
- "Progressive Disseminated Essential Telangiectasia with Conjunctival Involvement"; Klin Monbl Augenheilkd; B. Swensson, et al.; February 1998
- "Ophthalmologic Diagnosis of Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia"; Archives of the Spanish Society of Ophthalmology; C. Pizzamiglio-Martin, et al.; 2008
- "Generalized Essential Telangiectasia"; Journal of the American Medical Association; John D. McGrae Jr., et al.; 1963
- "Successful Treatment With Tetracycline"; Journal of the American Medical Association"; Walter B. Shelley, et al.; 1971
- Mayo Clinic: Telangiectasia Photograph
