Varicose Veins
Overview

Varicose veins are dilated and enlarged blood vessels that bulge out of your skin’s surface. While healthy veins follow a straight path, varicose veins are tangled, twisted, tortuous, or knotted, often resembling a dense mass of knotted ropes. They may be red or bluish-purple, and they’re mostly seen on the legs, but they can also appear on other parts of your body. The medical term for varicose veins is “varicosities,” and it affects 1 in 3 people living in the United States, so you’re not alone!

Varicose veins are essentially dilated blood vessels caused by elevated pressure within the superficial veins close to the skin’s surface. However, the root cause of varicose veins can be traced to an underlying circulatory disorder known as chronic venous insufficiency.

Healthy leg veins are supposed to carry deoxygenated blood from the legs to the heart, moving against the force of gravity. All leg veins contain flap-like mechanisms known as vein valves — these valves act as one-way doors, allowing blood to flow towards the heart but not backward. When your vein valves collapse or malfunction due to various factors, blood flows backward and eventually pools in the leg veins. Over time, blood continues accumulating and adding pressure to the superficial leg veins, making them swell, dilate, and eventually bulge out in the form of varicose veins.

The leading risk factor for varicose veins is genetic predisposition. If your biological parents have a history of vein problems, there’s a 90% chance you’ll eventually have symptoms of vein disease as well, such as spider veins and varicose veins.

Old age is another prominent risk factor for varicose veins because your vein valves grow weaker with time. If you’re over 50, you are far more likely to get varicose veins than younger men.

Women are more likely to get varicose veins than men because they have higher estrogen levels, which is one of the risk factors for varicose veins. Higher estrogen levels lead to a higher risk of vein disease. If you’re post-menopausal, pregnant, or have undergone multiple pregnancies, you have an even higher risk of varicose veins.

If you’re a teacher, nurse, driver, or someone with a desk job, you are more likely to get varicose veins because blood can accumulate in your leg veins when you sit or stand still for long periods of time.

Other risk factors for varicose veins include obesity, a history of blood clots, and undergoing hormone therapy.

Varicose veins are often asymptomatic, causing nothing more problematic than self-consciousness and social anxiety (reason enough to seek varicose vein treatment). However, varicose veins are often accompanied by various other symptoms and complications due to the underlying chronic venous insufficiency.

You can identify the early signs of vein disease as spider veins, leg heaviness, throbbing leg veins, frequent leg cramps, restless leg syndrome, swollen ankles and legs, hard and fatty deposits (lіроdеrmаtоѕсlеrоѕіѕ) under your skin, and more.

If left untreated, venous insufficiency progresses rapidly, eventually leading to skin discoloration near the calves, ankles, and shin, venous eczema (stasis dermatitis), and non-healing wounds (ulceration).