Quick Summary

• Very common condition
• Treatable without surgery

Have you recently noticed those unsightly bulging veins on your hands that make you feel as if you were a hundred years old and want to wear gloves even though it’s 90 degrees outside?

That problem can be fixed!

These prominent veins on your hands are usually not a major health issue, but with time they can become extremely unattractive. In some cases, however, bulging veins can be caused by a more serious vascular disease that requires a medical specialist’s attention.

So, what’s happening?

Conspicuous hand veins are actually normal veins – in most cases, at least. Their function is simply to carry blood back from the hands to the heart. Large bulging veins on the backs of our hands occur because our skin relaxes and thins. There are a few reasons why hand skin loses elasticity, but age is the most common one. This condition does not usually cause pain, but the veins do become more noticeable, and due to their bluish color can change the overall coloration of hands.

Is this common? Absolutely. Time waits for no man, they say. We all grow older and hardly anything can be done to prevent large bulging veins on hands. As opposed to age spots, which can be prevented by wearing high UV factor sun screen regularly, there is nothing you can do in advance to avoid hand veins. After all, estimates say that at least 20 – 25 million Americans suffer from some kind of vein-related disease. This makes problems with veins one of the most common chronic conditions in the United States – and unfortunately, there is no reason why your hands should be spared!

What causes hand veins to appear?

There are a few risk factors that cause the development of bulging hand veins, either by themselves or combined:

• Age – the loss of elasticity and thinning of skin is the primary and most common reason why your hand veins become more and more visible. It is the natural process of aging, rather than an underlying medical problem, that will mar your hands with bluish or purplish bulging lines.
• Exercise – how unfair is it that we slave our bodies in the gym to gain those healthy muscles and what do we get in return? Hand veins! During physical exercise, the blood pressure in arteries increases, which forces the plasma from the blood to pool around the muscles, causing the muscles to swell and harden. Subsequently, the veins are pushed toward the skin surface and they become more prominent. If heavy physical exercise is your regular thing, sooner or later those veins will just keep bulging, and they will never go away on their own.
• Hot weather – hot weather is not good for any vein-related issue. The veins tend to enlarge and it is more difficult for the vein valves to work properly. This is also the reason why your hand veins become more prominent during those summer days.
• Vascular disease – in some cases, bulging hand veins are caused by a vascular disease.

As you can see, even something as trivial as going to the gym regularly can cause the development of bulging hand veins. Unfortunately, in some cases hand veins can be caused by a serious vascular disease. That’s why it is always better to see a medical specialist about hand veins, even if you think they are just a cosmetic issue!

Will they get worse over time?

Unfortunately, yes. Unless you invent a time machine or an elixir of youth, prominent hand veins won’t get better on their own, and will usually get worse over time. The sooner they are treated, the more effective, less complicated, and cheaper the treatment will be!

Hands like these will make you look older than Gandalf of the Lord of the Rings, so don’t wait around. Start treating bulging hand veins before it gets worse.

How do I treat hand veins?

Thanks to modern technology, treating these unsightly veins has become easier. Even if you can still treat them with surgery, I would strongly recommend a minimally invasive procedure. These new procedures don’t require surgery and have little to no downtime. Skilled specialists will treat the veins in their office in an outpatient setting. You’ll be back at work on the same day, with relatively little pain or discomfort.

• Sclerotherapy – this minimally invasive procedure involves injecting salt water or a chemical solution called ‘sclerosant’ into the hand vein. The vein then hardens and disappears. Outpatient setting, no anesthesia, low cost, and almost zero downtime or risks make Sclerotherapy a perfect solution for bulging hand veins. You’ll probably just have to wear compression gloves for a couple of weeks after the procedure.

There are other procedures still being used. These are much less preferable because they are more invasive, complicated, have many more potential side-effects and a long recovery time.

What should I do now?

Don’t wait!  It can get worse over time, and it’s better to explore how to feel better about yourself by finding a practice can help you in their office.

You can just call and schedule an appointment to get any specific answers. All these offices are state-of-the-art and the staff is very friendly to their patients.

Next Steps:

• Use the Find a Doctor, to schedule a Free Consultation or call them to ask some questions