What are varicose veins?

Veins are the blood vessels that return blood from all the organs in the body toward the heart. Veins can bulge with pools of blood when they fail to circulate the blood properly. These bulging veins are called Varicose Veins. They are often red or blue in color and can occur anywhere in the body.

Types of Varicose Veins

There are several types of varicose veins. Following are some of them:

• Trunk Varicose Veins: These are near to the surface of the skin. They look unpleasantly thick and knobby.

• Reticular Varicose Veins: Red group of veins is called Reticular Varicose Veins.

• Telangiectasia Varicose Veins: Harmless veins appearing on face or legs and not bulging beneath the surface of the skin are called Telangiectasia veins or spider veins or thread veins. These are usually blue or red in color and in a cluster.

Prevention of Varicose Veins

• Exercising, losing weight, elevating the legs when resting can help keep varicose veins from getting worse.

• Wearing loose clothing and avoiding continuous standing can also help.

• If varicose veins are painful the doctor may recommend procedures to remove them. So, one should not avoid visiting a doctor in such a case. A vascular surgeon is the one who can help in such a case.