The Specific Case of Prominent Arteries at the Temples

This primarily refers to the superficial temporal artery (STA), which, on both the right and left sides, is one of the two terminal branches of the external carotid artery in the neck (the other being the maxillary artery). Its winding course, often visible beneath the skin—especially at the temples—is frequently mistaken for veins.

Physical exertion causes it to dilate, making this artery physiologically visible in all humans. Once the exertion subsides, it disappears or becomes less noticeable, except in certain individuals where it remains significantly dilated, unsightly at rest, very prominent in the summer, and a source of recurring cosmetic concern.

This unsightliness can be eliminated in a number of cases under two types of conditions :

• 1. Ensuring that certain circumstances that could justify the surgical use of this specific artery for reconstructive purposes are absent and/or highly unlikely - and that this artery is not affected by a relatively rare inflammatory disease (one in a thousand people), known as Horton’s disease (also called temporal arteritis or giant cell arteritis), which is treated exclusively with medication (corticosteroid therapy).
• 2. The applicant must acknowledge that he has been fully informed about this matter and still wish to proceed; he must be 50 years of age or older (or have a normal Doppler ultrasound of the neck arteries), have no intracranial arteries with an aneurysm (which is easily verified by a brain CT scan or MRI), suffer from neither high blood pressure nor retinal disorders, nor any chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease, nor diabetes, and be a non-smoker.

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