Why Leg Veins Become Visible

Why Leg Veins Become Visible : The visibility of your leg veins indicates your current health status.

In human anatomy, your veins function as the tunnel for your blood to flow. As your heart pumps your blood to various organs inside your body, your veins recourse those blood back to your heart. In other words, your veins return the deoxygenated blood from your organs back to your heart.

As you grow older, your veins develop, affecting the status of your circulatory system. You may notice some veins that appear in your legs, arms, face, and hands.

Have you ever wondered how your veins become visible?

According to Dr. Nima Azarbehi, a Scottsdale Varicose Vein Doctor, “Leg veins become visible due to insufficiency over time from poor habits, work-related issues such as prolonged standing, genetics or lack of exercise to name a few. The insufficiency in the veins that develop overtime includes valvular dysfunction and pooling. It keeps the returning blood from flowing up to the heart in an efficient manner.”

Factors of Vein Visibility

Dermatologists agree that the visibility of your veins, especially in your legs, is caused by numerous factors. These common factors have contributed to the visibility of the veins in your body:

Age

One of the significant factors of vein visibility is caused by age. The rationale behind explains that as you age, your skin starts to thin and loses its elasticity. Your veins become weaker, and the weakened valves allow blood to pool and create the veins thicker and bulge.

For instance, the visibility of varicose veins, a type of vein condition, usually appears in ages 30 to 60 years old.
Underweight/Low Body Fat

Your body fats affect your vein visibility. Commonly, those persons who are underweight and have thin hands may find their finds visible compared to those who have weighed more.
Exercise

The more you contract your muscles, the more you push your veins closer to your skin as your blood pressure rises. Hence, exercise is a factor for vein visibility.

When your body is at rest, your blood pressure drops to normal, and your veins become less visible.

The study reveals that a person who repeatedly lifts weights and engages in strength training exercise allows their blood flow to increase. It can cause visible veins in your legs and hands.
Varicose Veins

Varicose veins are twisted, swollen veins that lie just under the skin and commonly occur in the legs, according to the National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Today, at least 20 to 25 million Americans have varicose veins. According to the American Society for Vascular Surgery, women are at risk of obtaining varicose veins than men, as statistics reveal that 33% of women suffer from varicose veins than 17% of men.

If you have varicose veins, you may suffer from swelling, aching pain, itching, feeling of heaviness in the legs, nighttime leg cramps, and bulging of bluish veins.
Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)

Deep Vein Thrombosis is a venous disease that forms a blood clot in the vein deep in the body. Most DVT occurrences are in the lower leg or thigh.

Studies suggest that DVT can be fatal, especially when it breaks loose, then a pool of blood sudden blockage in a lung artery. In other words, DVT develops pulmonary embolism, which lowers the oxygen levels of your body and permanently damages your lungs.

In worse cases, DVT can cause the demise of a person.

Nevertheless, the visibility of your vein indicates if you are at risk of your health condition or not.

When should I worry about the visibility of my leg veins?

While it is true that your veins normally appear through age, however, there are things to consider if you need to have a vein specialist to see the status of the vein visibility in your legs.

Here are the symptoms that you should worry about the visibility of your leg veins:

Leg Discoloration

Leg discoloration occurs when venous problems complicate, specifically veins in your lower legs and feet.

During a leg discoloration, a condition known as venous reflux, lets your blood impede flow freely and causes the veins to leak as its pressure builds. As it stocks in your skin, it develops leg discoloration resulting in a dark purple or red blotches.

The darkening of the lower leg, ankle, or foot, often indicates the abnormalities of your leg veins, which blood flow compromises to recourse directly to the heart, resulting in the pooling of blood.
Lipodermatosclerosis

According to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the U.S. Department of Health, Lipodermatatosclerosis refers to the changes in the skin of the lower leg. The exact cause of this venous disease is unknown, however, dermatologists suggest that it is caused by obesity or vein abnormalities.

A varicose vein may complicate into lipodermatosclerosis. During its development, you can feel discomfort and pain, thickening and discoloration of your skin, swelling, and tapering of your legs, and the occurrence of leg ulcers.
Venous Ulcers

According to MedlinePlus, venous ulcers occur when the veins in your legs do not function normally to recourse the blood back to the heart. The tendency of impeding its blood flow results in an increasing pressure into the skin. Hence, if not treated immediately, it causes an open sore.

Furthermore, venous ulcers cause the visibility of leg veins to leak out into the skin and other tissues. Its painful occurrence incites too much irritation that leads to skin change called stasis dermatitis.

Conclusion

The visibility of your leg veins indicates your current health status. Perhaps, several factors have contributed to the visibility of your leg veins, including:

Age
Underweight/Low Body Fat
Exercise
Varicose Veins
Deep Varicose Thrombosis (DVT)

While these factors contribute to the visibility of your legs, its manifestations reveal some health complications that need to have immediate treatment, such as leg discoloration, lipodermatosclerosis, and venous ulcers.

If the visibility of your leg veins complicates, Elite Vein Clinic offers leading-edge technology in surgical treatment and operation of venous diseases.

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