Varicose Veins Archives

vericose veins

Hi - I am 23 years old and over the past 3 summers I have noticed that I am developing several "puffy" large blue veins in my right leg below the knee that seem to be worsening each year, and I am also developing many visible, but not raised, veins in both legs. No other women on either side of my family has had this problem before (however, my father always had many large puffy veins on his arms and hands, though I don't remember ever paying much attention to his legs while he was living) and I am wondering what is causing them.

I am 5'10" and about 125 pounds so I am not overweight at all. Could this be caused by my long term oral contraceptive use? I have been on them for about 6 years to treat my acne - I tried discontinuing pill use last year, but my acne flared up worse than ever before so I started them up again (they are the only thing I have found that works).

My question is will these puffy veins improve if I discontinue using the pill, or will I need treatment? Will discontinuing them prevent the appearance of future veins? Also, I heard from a friend that her aunt had vericose veins removed and later in life had to have one of her legs amputated as a result of it. Is this a really a long-term risk of closing off veins?

Thanks!

Follow Ups:

• Re: varicose veins (Archive.) Walt Stoll 10:39:43 6/07/02 (0)

In Reply to: vericose veins posted by Steph on June 06, 2002 at 10:02:07:

Hi, Steph.

I seriously doubt that this is related to your BC pills although now that they are present, the complications of those veins (clots) ARE more common with BC pills.

The first thing for you to do is go to the archives and learn how to get rid of your acne without the BC pills.

Next, you need to start learning about rebounding and how this can help your veins--see the archives about varicosities and about rebounding.

Finally, once you have done the above, you might see a surgeon about the varicosities to see if removing them is indicated. The things that prevent more do not necessarily reverse what is already there.

Let us know what you learn and how you do.

Walt