Varicose veins are characterized by their swollen, twisted shapes that can be seen jutting out from under the skin. While varicose veins tend to affect the legs, they can also start to form in other areas of the body as well.
Since your veins act as one-way valves that help carry blood toward your heart, they can become weak, damaged, and blood can start to back up and pool in the veins, which is what causes varicose veins to swell and become visible.
Varicose Veins Have 2 Primary Causes: Age and Pregnancy
As we advance in age, our veins can start to stretch over time and tend to become more visible. Valves within your veins can also become weak and result in backward flowing blood, instead of blood moving normally toward the heart.
Why Do Varicose Veins Appear to Be Blue?
Varicose veins can often appear to be bluish in color because of the deoxygenated blood flowing within them.
During pregnancy, varicose veins can come about because of an overall increase in total volume of blood in your body while the blood flow from your legs to your pelvis simultaneously decreases. This results in more blood being diverted and redirected in order to support a healthy, growing fetus.
The weight of the baby and the weight of the uterus pushing down on your legs might also result in varicose veins.
Unfortunately, this means that varicose veins will more often affect women than men.
How to Treat Your Varicose Veins
If you have varicose veins, please don’t worry. There are things you can do at home, like exercise, eating healthy, and maintaining a healthy body weight that can help reduce the appearance of varicose veins. There are also amazing treatments and minimally-invasive procedures that you can explore at Rejuva Medical Aesthetics which will help you get rid of unwanted varicose veins.
If you have any questions about what you can do to treat your varicose veins, give us a call today. At Rejuva Medical Aesthetics we have a long established history of helping our patients look and feel amazing!