Does anyone else have them? I know my mom used to get them very bad, she's not overweight, but both her and I have smoking in common

What causes them? How do you get rid of them?

I have them the worse in my face (cheeks). A few on the legs, but those ones don't bother me at all.

They're tiny little red and blue veins that show up on my face. They're quite discusting to look at (to me anyway). Not many people noticed them until recently.

What causes varicose and spider veins?

Varicose and spider veins are not skin conditions; they reflect developments in your blood vessels. Since they are such a frequent cosmetic concern, however, you may end up consulting a dermatologist or other cosmetically-oriented physician about getting rid of them.

Veins are blood vessels that carry deoxygenated blood on its return trip back to the heart. Since we spend much of your time upright, veins have to work against gravity to push blood back to the heart. Ordinarily, muscular activity of the legs and valves inside the veins prevent blood from flowing backward. When the valves become less efficient for some reason, blood begins to creating bumpy, distended varicose veins.

Why do varicose and spider veins develop? Here are several reasons:

Both men and women can develop them but they're more common in women, the hormones estrogen and progesterone may play a role, since puberty, contraceptive pills, and hormone replacement therapy after menopause seem to encourage their development.

http://aids.hallym.ac.kr/health/news/991223.html

IGNORE the product info, I just liked the actual spider vein info on this site: http://www.venarin.com/spider-veins-...ein-causes.htm

Also, they can develop on the face as part of rosacea.

I have them too. I get them on my thighs, so I have these lovely blue veins when I wear a bathing suit

I've had sclerotherapy a few times to help reduce them. Sclero is a cosmetic procedure you can have done at your dermotologist's office. It's basically a saline solution that they inject into each vein to break it up and dissolve it back into your bloodstream. It does work, but some stubborn veins require more than one treatment. And new veins will always develop, so it's not a permanent solution. But it's the only thing I've found to have any success.

If you have red veins on your face (I have those too, near the eye area) your derm may recommend laser treatment. I haven't tried that one (yet lol).

Not sure why I get them. Probably genetic, although I don't know anyone in my family who has them. So it's probably some great grandmother or something.

I am only 30 and have really bad varicose veins in my legs for the last 7 years or so. They got really bad and painful when I was pregnant. They mostly went away during my maternity leave but they are all back 2 years later.

I have them mainly on my thihgs. Some on my claves, but not many. I noticed one on my face the other day, right on the side of my lips. I'm 24 and I smoke as well. I'm not sure how much it has to do with them, since I don't know alot of other people who smoke. I'm noping that when I actually have the guts to go to the pool and get a tan, it will help to hide the ones on my legs. I have no clue what to do about the one on my face though.

There are highly effective cosmetic treatments for many unsightly vein concerns. Probably the most widely used procedure for the treatment of varicose veins is sclerotherapy. In this procedure a solution is injected into the affected vein which acts to block off the blood flow in that vein which causes the body to reroute blood flow through healthier veins.

Varicose veins and spider veins are different. Spider veins are cosmetically unattractive (I should know my upper and lower legs are covered with them) but do not normally pose a health risk or cause pain.

Varicose veins on the other hand, in some cases, can be a symptom of a bigger medical problem (blockage in the lower veins), and are usually painful. Support hose and elevating your legs will help reduce the pain. You should always see a doctor about them and discuss your options.

Here's a great article about varicose veins.
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-a...topic-overview

PS: I'm a smoker too, but the spider veins have shown up on every female in my family...and none of the rest of them smoked or smoke currently.

I am only 20 and developed them during pregnancy. My mom is covered in them, so it is sort of a fate I accept, although my legs used to be one of my favorite body parts!

A varicose vein can result in spider veins further up your thigh. So . . . if you have spider veins and think about laser treatment to get rid of them, which, they must be VERY small to do this, they will just come back until you deal with the larger issue . . . the varicose vein.

Having just been through sclerotherapy, it takes a LONG time. An initial consultation, an ultrasound on the main veins in your legs, 6 weeks in support stockings, an attempt to get your insurance to pay; I'm sure you get my drift.

BUT . . . if you have a painful varicose vein, it's WORTH IT!!

It is not, however, a quick fix. After the sclerotherapy, it can still take up to a year for the veins that have been "killed" with saline to disappear fully.

I highly recommend it though. I'm much more comfortable and feel better in shorts!

I just came across this and thought the rest of you might be interested.

Veinwave

Do not know if it is available in the US yet. It is a new treatment that does not cause bruising or pigmentation loss and does not require bandaging afterward.

Ugh, in the past few months I have noticed more and more of them popping up on my legs above the knees. I stand on my feet all day at my job (salon) and we have to stand on tile all day. I wish we could stand on cushioned floor mats.

I have heard that crossing your legs makes them worse because you are cutting off circulation. The visability of them i think also has to do with the thickness of the skin. . .

I just had a vein closure procedure performed on both my legs this past month. It was relatively painless but quite costly. My insurance covered everything after my deductable. It was i believe about $6000 total for both legs. They do a sonogram on your veins in your legs to see if they are "diseased" or not. Apparently, i had two veins running parallel to each other in both my legs that had to be closed off. There were two places around the knee where i had one small stitch, where they went in at. The recovery time was a peice of cake. Oh, they put you to sleep to do each of the legs but you can only have one leg done at a time. And i had to go back a week later to have another sonogram done to be sure there were no blood clots or other problems. I wore a bandage from heel to thigh for three days and took advil 3 times a day for 5 days. And they want you to continue to go about your business as soon as you leave the dr's office (except drive for 24 hours because of the anethesia). I have a little tightness in my inner knees but that goes away after warming up my legs a little by walking and it should disappear permanetly over the next year. The spider veins are caused by my blood not flowing properly through that bigger vein i just had closed. So, now, as soon as i save up a little more money, i'm going to get some of the most noticable spider veins taken care of. I think in the long term, this is going to be a good thing that i did because my veins are close to the surface and i already have one vein that is starting to bulge out around the outer side of my left leg around my knee. Nothing will take care of my blue veins showing, cause like i said about mine, my veins are close to the surface. But i don't have to have the little purple and blue broken spider veins. I also think by losing the weight, that's another plus for my legs.

I think spider veins are also hereditary. My maternal grandmother has them, my mother has them and my aunts as well. I started developing them too this year (or I might had had them for a long time but the lack of the Cypriot sun brought them to the light).

Humph ten months ago I was sitting on my butt all day, doing no exersice and my legs were crystal clear. I start exercising and they pop up everywhere (hands, legs and torso). Oh the irony of it all!