Hideous varicose vein legs

missionpossible2013
missionpossible2013 Posts: 20 Member
edited November 26 in Health and Weight Loss
I started developing varicose veins when i had constant standing working at a fast food restaurant. Throughout the years they have only gotten worse. I HATE for my legs to show. It's embarrassing to have them out. I went to a vein center in my home town . They offered out patient surgery. They also said i had an extra vein that i didn't need that caused the other veins to varicose. Has anyone here delt with bulging varicose veins and was successful?

Replies

  • sunshinedaydream21
    sunshinedaydream21 Posts: 62 Member
    Curious about this also! I was referred for treatment but never went through with it. I use Sally Hansen's "Airbrush legs" spray when I wear anything short which helps. I am not very overweight at all, but I got the veins during pregnancy. My mom was the same, she had hers treated but then they all came back (this was in the late 1980's...assuming treatments are better now?)
  • Stew501
    Stew501 Posts: 65 Member
    No, but before you try OP surgery; there is an oral pill that was developed to help with hemorrhoids & one of the side effects was the decrease appearance of varicose veins; I forgot the name of it, I’ll ask my husband tomorrow & let u know, we were discussing it a few months back
  • Sairzie
    Sairzie Posts: 122 Member
    Also, I don't know where you are in the world (guessing not the UK as you can't get surgery that easily here!) but wearing compression hosiery/stockings can help to reduce the size of them. They assist with venous return by applying graduated compression on the leg creating resistance for the calf muscle (which in essence is a pump for venous return) and helping compensate against the bulging nature of varicose veins.

    In the U.K. These are first line treatement for prevention and reduction of varicose veins as surgery is often not cost effective.
  • 100_PROOF_
    100_PROOF_ Posts: 1,168 Member
    I went to an outpatient surgery center and had them taken care of in 2011. Doctor said Mine got bad from waitressing and pregnancy but it's likely hereditary for me( my mom and my grandma and had it too)
    I don't regret having it done, my legs look 98% better. It was not expensive and no pain.

    I believe women should do whatever they want to make themselves feel better about their appearance. I've had breast augmentation and several facial procedures in the past 21 years.

    Out of everything, teeth whitening caused me the most pain. Lol . I won't do that again, it really hurt and made my teeth extremely sensitive. But everything else is fair game in my book.
  • Stew501
    Stew501 Posts: 65 Member
    Vasculera
  • jefamer2017
    jefamer2017 Posts: 416 Member
    Serious question are varicose veins dangerous? I don't have any but some family members do. Just wondering.
  • 1BlueAurora
    1BlueAurora Posts: 439 Member
    My great uncle had the surgery and wished he'd done it sooner.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    jefamer2017 wrote: »
    Serious question are varicose veins dangerous? I don't have any but some family members do. Just wondering.

    They can be. They could burst open and bleed, cause ulcers, and have blood clots.

    I have varicose veins, had them for decades. The only bother I ever get from them is rare itching. My GP prescribed compression stockings, but they were painfully tight and were doing the opposite of what they're said to do (my feet would go numb when I sat down for more than a couple minutes).
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    missionpossible2013 wrote: »
    I started developing varicose veins when i had constant standing working at a fast food restaurant. Throughout the years they have only gotten worse. I HATE for my legs to show. It's embarrassing to have them out. I went to a vein center in my home town . They offered out patient surgery. They also said i had an extra vein that i didn't need that caused the other veins to varicose. Has anyone here delt with bulging varicose veins and was successful?

    Cynosure has a laser called Cynergy that has minimal down time and really does a number on those spider veins. Mine weren't severe, but I got them treated and it was really simple, non-painful and now I have fresh legs instead of unsightly veins on my "saddle bag" area
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    edited May 2018
    I am 29 and have spider veins that will probably get worse as I get older. My mom had that surgery thing done. So far they aren’t bothering me but we shall see.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    jefamer2017 wrote: »
    Serious question are varicose veins dangerous? I don't have any but some family members do. Just wondering.

    They can be. They could burst open and bleed, cause ulcers, and have blood clots.

    I have varicose veins, had them for decades. The only bother I ever get from them is rare itching. My GP prescribed compression stockings, but they were painfully tight and were doing the opposite of what they're said to do (my feet would go numb when I sat down for more than a couple minutes).

    In addition to this, if you have them in a place where you bump them on things it's easy for them to get ulcerated. Mostly they are just unattractive though.

    My spider veins disappeared with my weight loss. Yay! But now I am getting varicose veins in the leg I injured with the ruptured Baker's cyst, due to swelling.
  • Sairzie
    Sairzie Posts: 122 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    jefamer2017 wrote: »
    Serious question are varicose veins dangerous? I don't have any but some family members do. Just wondering.

    They can be. They could burst open and bleed, cause ulcers, and have blood clots.

    I have varicose veins, had them for decades. The only bother I ever get from them is rare itching. My GP prescribed compression stockings, but they were painfully tight and were doing the opposite of what they're said to do (my feet would go numb when I sat down for more than a couple minutes).

    I’d say they gave you the wrong size stockings then. I work in a leg ulcer clinic and measure people for hosiery everyday and they definitely shouldn’t be doing that to you! Some people don’t fit into the regular size bands (being tall with larger legs, short with skinny legs etc all issues for bog standard sizing) and require made to measure to get the perfect fit.
  • Najacita
    Najacita Posts: 24 Member
    I had the surgery back in 2006 on my right leg. The laser treatment didn't work on me, so they stripped my vein. That was a little painful! Within a few years, I got other spider veins and a new snakey varicose vein. It hasn't hurt or throbbed like the old one but I notice my right leg tires easier.
  • Gaynor_
    Gaynor_ Posts: 9 Member
    I had surgery in December, my surgeon said other treatments were not suitable for me. One vein striped and 25+ small incisions to remove the one across my thigh that went down to my shin.
    Took some recovery time but worth it.
    I have visible scarring that is reducing. The main thing is that I feel comfortable wearing shorts and skirts now when before I was too self conscious of the massive veins.
  • the8BitGirl
    the8BitGirl Posts: 38 Member
    When I was researching treatments for broken capillaries, I came across mention of topical treatments on the market containing horse chestnut extract, which has apparently been shown to help with varicose veins in clinical trials. Source.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    TheDevastator wrote: »
    I’ve read that varicose and spider veins are a lack of vitamin E. Not sure if it’s true but I take vitamin E every day and load up on high E foods like almonds and sunflower seeds. Although I’ve never had a problem with varicose veins.

    I sort of doubt a vitamin can overcome the effects of genetics, being overweight, multiple pregnancies, and having a job where a person is on their feet all day, which is what the Mayo clinic lists as risk factors (oh, and being a woman) ;)
  • missionpossible2013
    missionpossible2013 Posts: 20 Member
    Thanks. Many of you have way better solutions than what I was considering. I need to go back to the doctor. They are getting worse faster, with weight loss.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    The upside is that this is normally only cosmetic and poses no health risk. There are a few approved cosmetic procedures you can research. I would steer clear of sclerotherapy on larger veins as the risk is dramatically increased. I used to manage the safety profile on one of the first products (polidocanol) and found far too many doctors using this off-label with horrible adverse effects. Used per the label on small spider veins < 1mm it was wonderful and minimized the scarring effect.

    This is primarily genetic, but certain activities can aggravate it.
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