For those of you who do not know too much about my history, I used to own a self-tanning company called Beautisol. I sold it in 2015, but I am still very passionate about the brand and using self-tanners to give my skin some sort of color! (I am so pale and fair that I often times, have a blue cast to my skin – that’s how white I am!) In nearly all the photos you see of me on my Instagram or Facebook pages, I am wearing Beautisol’s face self-tanner or body self-tanner.
For about 4 years I was on HSN (the Home Shopping Network) as the on-air guest for my company and part of my demonstration was being able to show the dramatic difference self-tanner makes in how you look and feel in before and after images. So I would tan one of my legs and leave the other pale and pasty. See what I mean… I am REALLY pale!
But part of what I also showed was how incredible self-tanners are at being able to cover up spider veins and imperfections on the skin. Is the image below even the show host would point out my veins and you could see the blue’ish bruised areas on the back of my pale leg but not in the tan leg. This was really powerful and why I love using Beautisol self-tanners to minimize the appearance of spider veins and help conceal them. I always felt so much better with them covered up and I know a lot of other people feel the same way.
So why I am telling you all this?! Well, I have finally decided to do something about those pesky, ugly spider veins once and for all… I am going to have them removed / treated and I thought I would share my experience with you as I go on this adventure. Yes, I will still use self-tanner regardless, but I really want them gone so it doesn’t look like I have bruises on my legs all the time.
I have done a TON of research and spoken to many vascular doctors and I have decided to go to Dr. Harpeed Ahluwalia (also known as Dr. A by his staff and patients) who is the founder of the California Vein and Vascular Centers in Northern California.
A couple of things that impressed me about Dr. A:
- #1 in California! He has performed more vein procedures that any other vein doctor in the state!
- Top 5 in the nation for number of vein procedures performed.
- Top 10 in the nation for treatment of peripheral arterial disease or PAD
Besides, it doesn’t hurt that he is super cool and funny and for me, bedside manner counts for A LOT! So while I am not having any kind of major procedure, the fact that he is “best in class” makes me feel so good about being in his care even if it is for something quite simple like the treatment my pesky spider veins.
So follow me on this journey! I will be interviewing Dr. A at the ProAm Golf Tournament via Facebook Live this weekend on Sunday Feb 12th around 12pm PST in gorgeous Pebble Beach. We’ll be discussing my treatment, more of what he does and his specialties and his new foundation called LegUp which aims to help prevent leg amputation. (See… I told you he was cool!!)
After that, I am going to share my entire experience in getting rid of my veins with you, my amazing followers, so I can help answer any questions you may have if you want to get rid of your veins. I am an open book and hold nothing back! Since this blog is about finding the beauty in people, places, and products – this journey is no different! I want to feel good about my legs again and not feel like I have to constantly cover them up etc.
**Disclaimer** The above products or services is something I paid for myself. It is not a PR sample and I am in no way getting paid for my opinion or the review.
UPDATE:
Here is the Facebook Like interview of me and Dr. A at the ProAm Golf Tournament. Next up is my ultrasound of my legs on March 14th. Dr. A is concerned that I might have leaky valves and thus run the risk of covering up a potentially bigger issue. So while I am a bit nervous that there is a bigger issue at hand, I am so grateful that Dr. A is wanting to take a closer look and just make sure everything is OK before we proceed.
