Children have an interesting way of looking at the world. To them, the smallest thing becomes something magical. However, sometimes their imagination gets the better of them, and they become afraid of the smallest imperfections. Or, better yet, they have a million questions about them.
In your case, your seven-year-old daughter is fascinated with the spider veins you have on your lower legs. Of course, you're not too thrilled that you have those spider veins in the first place, but are in the process of getting them treated by a dermatologist.
Your little girl first spied your spider veins during a recent trip to the beach. She was trying to cover you in sand, and then she screamed. You thought she had gotten bitten by a bug or something, and dashed into your backpack for the bug spray. She said that no, she hadn't been bitten, but she did want to know why you had those cuts on your legs.
You explained to her that no, those weren't cuts, they were spider veins. She, of course, wanted to know what those were. You told her that when you were pregnant with her, you gained lots of weight, which was a very different experience for your body. Your veins, which carry blood to your heart, were not too thrilled when they got lots of pressure put on them by your weight gain, so they showed up in protest on the surface of your skin.
At this point, your daughter pointedly reminded you that she was born seven years ago, so why are the veins still there? You tell her that the veins will be there until you get them fully treated. She then asks you how they will go away. You tell her that you're seeing a dermatologist, a doctor who knows all about the skin problems people can get.
She asks you how the doctor will make the veins go away, and you tell her that so far you're just working on getting shots. That very word makes your daughter want to cry – she hates shots. It still doesn't stop her from asking what kind of shots they are, though. You tell her that each shot has some medicine in it, and that over time the veins will get lighter and lighter.
Of course, the questions don't stop there. She then asks you what would happen if the shots don't work. Can the veins still go away? You say that yes, they can, but then the dermatologist might need to use laser treatments. Now, this sounds really cool to her, and she's interested in finding out how the lasers can help.
You tell her that the light in the lasers work to make the veins get smaller over time too. The last question she asks is about how long it will take for the veins to go away. You tell her you're not sure, it's different for each person, since each person is different too. She nods, and goes back to playing. You smile, happy that you were able to answer all of your daughter's questions.
