Ok so this is probably a weird question but I have to know if it's just me or not. I have noticed that I can see like all the veins in my legs thru my skin. they're not vericous veins they're just big blue veins. The doctor just said it was cuz they're close to the surface but I'm wondering if it has anything to do with being overweight. I can see my circulatory system through my skin all over. Do I just need a tan or what? Does anyone else have this problem?

Nope, it has nothing to do with being overweight. A few veins in one of my arms are like that, and they always have been, even when I was skinny. Most people I've seen with veins close to their skin are usually thin, actually.

A tan might help, though.

I don't think this has anything to do with obesity at all (though some vein issues like spider veins and varicose veins might, I don't know). It's possible that since a fat person has more blood vessels including veins, more might be visible, but I'm not aware of any link.

The term "blue blood" as in a person of royalty or high birth, was based on this very phenomenon. I think it might have been spain, but I'm not really sure, anyway the nobility in the area just happened to be paler skinned (untanned from not working in the sun) people with more veins close to the skin. Thus the blue veins were more visible, and people assumed that rich people had blue, not red blood.

Thank for the input. Very interesting. I guess I just need to get a tan but I don't want skin cancer.

Spray tanning is cancer free!

Personally I think us fair girls should fight the urge to tan and embrace the beauty of our porcelain skin!

My mom actually had the see-through-skin thing going on with her legs and mine are starting to do it as well. I think it's just genetic.

I thought about self tanners but I don't want to look all orange like lindsay Bloham. Oh well atleast it's not just me with see through skin

Phyllis, since losing weight, I can easily see the veins on my arms and legs too. When I was obese, my veins were buried and I often had to have IV's and lab work drawn from my neck. From my experience as a nurse, Yes, thinner people have more pronounced veins.

I have always had very prominent veins on my chest (collar bone/scapula) and breasts. The weird thing is it comes and goes. Some days they are faint, some days it looks FREAKY like someone drew a blue spiderweb on my chest. BRIGHT BRIGHT blue. But they are equally bright in the bony area and the fatty areas.

I have them, too. You can follow my veins from my wrist clear up my arm. I have them in my legs, too. Other places as well . . .

I was self conscious about it and a friend said Shakespeare LOVED blue veined women. There is a quote from Antony & Cleopatra about it. Cleopatra said:

My bluest veins to kiss—a hand that kings
Have lipp’d, and trembled kissing

If Cleopatra thought they were sexy then I do, too!!

Add me to the blue-blood club. I have that long veing, in particular, above my chest, which is freaky when seen under crude lights (bathrooms, etc.), and I could see it just as much at my highest weight. Even when I have a tan, my veins are still easily seen, depending on the part of my body.