There is no reported association with varicose vein disease or other superficial or underlying deep venous insufficiency. Localized absence of telangiectases under a wristwatch has been reported. There is no visceral involvement and no hemorrhagic tendency. However, one report describes a patient with GET and gastrointestinal bleeding due to the presence of a watermelon stomach. Conjunctival telangiectases are uncommon in GET but have been reported.
Laboratory studies are normal.
They are devoid of muscular, elastic and adventitial components and their endothelial cells are alkaline phosphatase negative, all normal features of the venous portion of the capillary loop. This is in contrast to the walls of normal terminal arterioles and capillary loops and the telangiectasias associated with dermatomyositis, in which the endothelium is alkaline phosphatase positive. These features indicate that the telangiectasias of GET are derived from the venous portion of the capillary loop or that their anatomical construction has been altered and their biochemical activity, i.e., alkaline phosphatase, has been lost as a consequence of the disease. In one report there were no measurable estrogen or progesterone receptors present in the one patient with GET in which these were sought. Estrogen and progesterone receptors have not been found in randomly occurring telangiectasias of the lower extremity.