Causes of Varicose Veins, Spider Veins, Varicose Vein, Spider Vein Removal Treatment
Varicose veins are enlarged, swollen and raised veins above your skin’s surface. Most frequently occurring in the legs of older women, they can look unattractively blue or purple and bulging or gnarly twisted.
Spider veins are a smaller, redder, closer to the surface version of the varicose vein. Regularly showing up on legs and faces, these unalluring veins typically resemble a spider’s web. Hence the name.
Varicose veins, spider or not, are a common condition. As an aside, hemorrhoids are a type of varicose vein.
The cause for varicose and spider veins is a valve problem. Strategically located throughout your venous circulatory system are numerous one-way valves tasked with maintaining blood flow toward your heart and preventing back flow.
Whenever you are in a standing up position, moving blood upward and against gravity puts a tremendous amount of pressure on your lower extremity valves. Should any of these valves weaken or become damaged, then blood pools in the surrounding veins, causing them to enlarge.
These factors can increase your risk for varicose veins or spider veins:
- age
- family history
- birth control pills
- lack of movement
- overweight, obesity
- standing for long time
- inborn weak vein valves
- same position for long periods
- gender ~ women more than men
- estrogen & progesterone containing drugs
- sun exposure ~ spider veins on the cheek, nose
- hormonal changes ~ puberty, pregnancy, menopause
Despite their unsightly look, varicose veins usually don’t cause many symptoms. When symptoms do occur, you may experience:
- burning
- swelling
- throbbing
- achy legs
- numbness
- blood clots
- irritated rash
- heavy leg feeling
- darkening of skin
- muscle cramping
- skin sores, ulcers
- itching around affected vein
Skin ulcers near your ankle might mean you have a vascular disease. So pay your health care professional a visit, if that is your case.
Ofttimes, less severe varicose veins or spider veins can be successfully treated by making a few simple lifestyle changes, such as:
- lose weight
- low salt diet
- use sunscreen
- don’t cross your legs
- wear compression stockings
- move around every 30 minutes
- ditch your tight clothes & high heels
- avoid standing, sitting for long periods
- regular exercises that move legs & improve their muscle tone
- raise your legs above heart level whenever sitting, resting, sleeping
At a minimum, these health enhancing changes can prevent or delay other varicose veins from developing.
Pregnancy related varicose veins generally improve without treatment within a few months. And those seeking a natural treatment, limited studies have found that horse chestnut seed extract is beneficial for varicose veins.
Following are the current effective medical treatments for relieving your varicose vein symptoms and improving your spider or varicose vein appearance:
- laser surgery
- vein stripping
- sclerotherapy
- microsclerotherapy
- endoscopic vein surgery
- ambulatory phlebectomy
- catheter-assisted procedure
- endovenous ablation therapy
Treatment side effect complaints involve bruising, swelling, skin discoloration and slight pain. Vein stripping causes a rare few severe pain, infection, blood clots and scarring.
It’s possible that your varicose vein or spider vein may recur. Improving your circulation and muscle tone via regular exercise is the healthiest means to forestall the aforementioned repetition.
Circulatory Health Blurbs:
- Causes for Symptoms of Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), Treatment and Prevention
- Why Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD) Causes Leg Pain, Numbness and Cold Feet Symptoms
- Atherosclerosis Disease Causes Angina, Numbness Symptoms for Circulatory System Treatment
- Raynaud’s Disease, Syndrome, Phenomenon Causes Finger and Toe Numbness, Tingling Symptoms
- Vasculitis Blood Vessels Inflammation Causes Systemic, Organ Symptoms for Medication Treatment

