The Veins & Redness Guide
Everything worth knowing about visible veins, rosacea and facial redness: how to tell them apart, what laser can do, and what to expect. Answered by Pink's clinical team.
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Last updated June 2026 · kept current with the guide
Redness and visible veins are almost always vascular: blood vessels near the surface of the skin, whether a discrete thread you can trace or a diffuse wash of colour that flares and settles. They are common, usually harmless and very treatable, though they are not all the same, and telling them apart is the first step to the right help. Two things decide the result: the wavelength, which has to suit your skin tone, and the clinician calibrating it to you.
At Pink, every skin tone is treated to the same standard on a long-pulse Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm, a wavelength absorbed by blood rather than pigment, which is why it suits the full Fitzpatrick range. Discrete vessels are cleared directly; the diffuse redness and flushing of rosacea are calmed and reduced over a course, since rosacea is managed rather than cured. This guide answers the questions we are asked most: which kind of redness you have, what laser can and cannot do, whether it hurts, whether it is safe for darker skin, and when something belongs with a doctor first.
Reading in this guide
The questions we're asked most, answered properly, one at a time.
