When we talk about varicose veins, we’re usually talking about the unsightly spider or bulging veins that are visible through the skin on our legs. What most people don’t know is that varicose and spider veins can also appear on many other places on the body. Here are three places you didn’t know you could get varicose and spider veins and their major causes:

Spider Veins on Your Face

One benefit of leg veins is that they’re easily hidden by wearing pants, tights, or long skirts. That’s unfortunately not the case if you’re among those who suffer from spider veins on your face. Covering spider veins requires applying a lot of makeup every time you leave the house, making spider veins on the face the most time-consuming vein disorder to live with.

Facial spider veins are caused by broken capillaries and generally appear as small red lines or splotches. Washing your face too aggressively, excessive sun exposure, and prolonged alcohol intake are common causes of spider veins on the face. Wearing sunblock, using a gentle face wash, and avoiding excessive alcohol consumption can reduce your chances of developing spider veins on your face.

Varicose Veins on Your Hands

Hands are another common place for varicose veins to show up. Varicose veins on your hands can make your hands look older than you your actual age, and because they’re difficult to hide unless it’s winter and you can wear gloves, hand veins can be the most impossible to cover up. Concealers may work for some time to hide hand veins, but you’ll inevitably remove the concealer while washing your hands over the course of the day.

Hand veins are caused by two major factors—aging and weightlifting. Aging causes hand veins to become more visible because skin thins as we age, and unfortunately, there’s no good way to prevent that process. Weightlifting causes hand veins by increasing the size of muscles in your hands, which pushes hand veins closer to the surface of your skin and makes them more visible. Unless you plan to stop weightlifting, visible hand veins are difficult to avoid.

Varicose Veins on Your Anus

Most people don’t know that hemorrhoids are actually varicose veins in your anus. Hemorrhoids are most commonly caused by straining when using the restroom, obesity, and pregnancy. To prevent hemorrhoids, make sure to get plenty of fiber in your diet or take a fiber supplement regularly, and make sure to exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet to avoid gaining excess weight.

Hemorrhoids as a result of pregnancy are usually the result of being in labor, so varicose veins caused by pregnancy are more difficult to prevent.

Varicose Vein Treatment

Regardless of where your varicose or spider veins are on your body, many different treatments are available for eradicating visible veins. Use our cost calculator to determine the potential costs of having your veins treated, and talk to your doctor to determine which treatment is right for you.