Latest news with #bloodvessels
Health Line
15-07-2025
- Health
- Health Line
Why Are My Veins Suddenly So Visible?
In most cases, visible veins aren't a cause for concern. Exercise, hot weather, sun exposure, and tight clothing can make your veins more noticeable. Aging, genetics, and being overweight may also increase their definition. Veins are blood vessels that bring deoxygenated blood back to the heart. They're different from arteries, which bring oxygenated blood from your heart to your body. If you have a lighter skin tone, it may be more common to have some visible veins. However, certain things can make your veins look even more obvious in terms of color and size. It might be more difficult to see the color of your veins if you have a darker skin tone. But if they become more visible, their size might be more noticeable. Most causes of visible veins are temporary and not serious. Some causes, like blood clots, are medical emergencies. Learn about the possible reasons of suddenly visible veins, along with treatment options and when you should see a medical care professional. What causes veins to be more visible quickly? Possible causes of visible veins include: Exercise During exercise, your blood pressure increases. This can widen your veins, making them look more obvious. Also, when your muscles contract during exercise, they place pressure on surrounding veins. This is especially common during lifting. Tight clothing Tight clothing can restrict blood flow. In turn, the blood pressure in your veins can increase, making them more visible. This often happens in the waist, thighs, and legs. Weather Hot weather also increases blood flow in the veins, enhancing their definition. Sun exposure Collagen is a protein that gives structure to your skin. Excess sun exposure can break down collagen beneath the skin, making your veins more noticeable. Sitting or standing for a long time When you sit or stand for a long time, gravity causes blood to pool in your legs. As a result, blood pressure increases in the leg veins and increases their definition. Skin color If you have a fair complexion, the color of your veins might be more visible. Your weight Being overweight or having obesity places pressure on your veins. The excess pressure can enhance vein definition, especially in the legs. Genetics Sometimes, visible veins run in families. If you have a family history of visible veins or conditions that affect the wall of your veins, you might be more likely to have it, too. Hormonal changes Hormonal changes can also alter the appearance of your veins. This includes: puberty menstruation pregnancy birth control pills menopausal hormone therapy Specifically, during pregnancy, a fetus places pressure on the veins in the pelvis area. This can increase pressure in the veins of your thighs, buttocks, and legs. Age As you get older, your skin makes less collagen, resulting in thin skin. Your body also loses fatty tissue. These changes can make your veins easier to see. Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes Drinking alcohol can make visible veins even more noticeable. Alcohol raises your heart rate, placing extra pressure on your veins. Cigarette smoking injures the walls of your veins, making them bulge and be more visible. Additionally, prolonged smoking can thin the skin, making veins more visible. Underlying medical condition that causes swollen veins Certain medical conditions can cause swollen veins. Varicose veins: Varicose veins happen when groups of purple veins become chronically swollen. It can be worsened by many things on this list, like drinking alcohol and prolonged standing. Chronic venous insufficiency: Chronic venous insufficiency is when the valves in your veins don't allow for proper blood flow. This causes blood to collect in your legs. Superficial thrombophlebitis: This condition occurs when a vein near the skin is inflamed and swollen. It can be caused by a superficial blood clot, trauma, cancer and some cancer treatments, or prolonged sitting. Straining on the toilet Straining to pass stool can increase pressure on veins in the rectum and may cause hemorrhoids, which are in essence a type of varicose veins. Chronic constipation can also place pressure in the abdominal area, which increases pressure on nearby veins. Blood clot A blood clot in a vein can cause a condition called deep vein thrombosis, which often affects the legs. The blood clot can block blood flow in the vein, increasing blood pressure. The vein may look more noticeable. Medical emergency If the blood clot breaks loose, it can travel to your lungs and cause a blockage known as pulmonary embolism. Call 911 or your local emergency services if you have: hard, swollen veins pain or swelling in one leg warm skin on the painful leg darkened or red skin on the affected leg Why are my veins so visible in my hands? Possible causes of suddenly swollen veins in the hands include: letting your hand hang below the level of your heart exercise hot weather sun exposure light skin color aging hormonal changes, including pregnancy genetics underlying conditions that cause swollen veins blood clot in the hands or arms Why are my veins so visible on my chest? On your chest, veins may become suddenly visible due to: exercise hot weather sun exposure wearing tight clothing light skin color aging hormonal changes, including pregnancy breastfeeding genetics underlying conditions that cause swollen veins What causes veins to become more visible in children In children, visible veins might be due to: exercise hot weather sun exposure wearing tight clothing being overweight or having obesity light skin color hormonal changes (puberty) genetics Other possible causes, which can also affect adults, include: Scleroderma: Scleroderma is a condition that affects connective tissue growth. It can cause spider veins, along with scarring and sores. Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome: This is a rare congenital disorder that causes varicose veins in a limb. The affected limb may also be enlarged or shorter than usual. Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome: This connective tissue disorder causes thin skin, making veins more visible. However, this might be harder to see in children with darker skin tones. If you're concerned about the appearance of your child's veins, see their doctor. When to see a doctor with veins suddenly visible? If your veins are visible for a long time and you're not sure why, see a doctor. You should also seek medical help if you have: visible veins that cause pain veins that feel warm skin rash, sores, or discoloration on your legs a bleeding vein difficulty moving or doing daily activities »FIND CARE: Find a primary care physician near you today. Treating visible veins If your veins are visible due to a non-medical cause, treatment involves lifestyle changes. Here's what you should do if visible veins are caused by: Exercise: Take a break and rest. Hot weather or sun exposure: Find shade to cool down. Tight clothing: Change into looser clothing. Prolonged sitting or standing: Change your position to avoid sitting or standing too long. Being overweight or having obesity: Work with a doctor to create a weight loss plan. Treatments for medical causes include: Compression stockings Compression stockings can help improve blood flow in your legs. This option is usually recommended for mildly visible veins. Anti-coagulant medication If your visible veins are due to deep vein thrombosis, you may need to take anti-coagulant drugs, or blood thinners. A doctor might give you an injection, oral tablets, or both. Nonsurgical treatments Nonsurgical procedures may include: Sclerotherapy: Sclerotherapy involves injecting a chemical into your veins. This seals the vein and turns it into scar tissue, causing the vein to fade. Closure system: In this treatment, a sticky substance is injected into the visible vein. The substance closes the vein and prevents blood flow, helping the vein look less noticeable. Percutaneous laser treatment: This nonsurgical treatment uses lasers, or intense bursts of light. The laser travels through the skin and closes the vein, making it fade. Endovenous thermal therapy: In this procedure, a small probe is inserted into the vein. The probe closes the vein with heat, then seals it with laser or radio waves. Surgery Surgery might be required for very large veins. Options include: Ambulatory phlebectomy: A medical professional will remove veins just under the skin with hooks. Surgical ligation and stripping: This surgery involves cutting off the affected vein, then removing it through small incisions made in the skin.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
The dangerous consequences of taking a cold shower on a hot day
When the weather warms up, many of us use a nice cold shower to help us cool down. But while this might feel like relief, it might actually not be helping the body cool off at all. Our body's optimal temperature is around 37°C. This temperatures ensures our body systems can function properly. But when the core gets too hot the temperature regulating centre of the brain starts sending nervous signals out to the blood vessels and muscles in or near the skin – telling them to start activating their cooling mechanisms. If our core stays at high temperature for too long (around 39-40°C), this can lead to organ damage. So to ensure our temperature stays optimal, the body uses multiple techniques to cool itself down. For instance, the body radiates heat into the surrounding environment by electromagnetic (thermal) radiation. Approximately 60% of our body heat is lost this way. Sweating is another mechanism the body uses. Around 22% of our body heat is lost this way. But when the air temperature around us exceeds our body temperature, sweating becomes the dominant mechanism for reducing core temperature. Any remaining body heat is then lost through a mixture of convection into the air or liquid the body may be in contact with and conduction into solid objects that the body may be in contact with. To support these mechanisms, our blood vessels change diameter. The ones closest to the skin dilate (widen) to allow more blood into them so they can get close to the relatively cooler surface of the skin. The body then works to circulate the blood so that heat from inside the body can be moved to the periphery to cool off. Similarly on our skin, the hairs remain flat to allow air next to the body to cool and be replaced, helping to dissipate heat. Of course, when the weather gets really hot outside, these mechanisms just don't feel like they cut it. Although diving into a cold bath or shower straight after being out in the heat might feel nice on your skin, it isn't doing what is needed to reduce the core temperature of the body. It might also be risky for some people. When exposed to cold, the blood vessels near to the skin constrict – reducing the blood flow into these areas. So in the context of cooling the body down, jumping into a cold shower does the opposite of what needs to happen, as less blood is now flowing to the surface of the skin. This will hold the heat in and around your organs instead of getting rid of it. Basically, you're tricking your body that it doesn't need to cool down, but actually needs to conserve heat. And, depending on how cold your water is, sudden exposure could even trigger dangerous consequences for some people. Exposure to water that is 15°C can trigger the cold shock response. This causes the blood vessels in the skin (those in contact with the cold water) to constrict rapidly. This increases blood pressure as the heart is now pumping against increased resistance. This response can be particularly dangerous in people with underlying heart conditions, such as coronary artery disease. The cold shock response can also lead to an irregular heartbeat and even death when going from very hot to cold. Thankfully, these events are rare – and probably won't happen if you're just taking a cold shower or bath in your home. But you might want to skip the cold plunge or avoid taking an ice bath on a hot day for this reason. Hot showers are also a bad idea on a warm day. Although it's sometimes said that a hot shower helps the body cool down faster, this unfortunately isn't true. Water that is warmer than the body is going to transfer energy in the form of heat into the body. This again prevents the body getting rid of heat – potentially increasing its core temperature. On a hot day, a tepid or lukewarm bath or shower is the way to go, evidence suggests 26-27°C is most effective. This helps bring blood to the surface to cool, without being cold enough to cause the body to think it needs to conserve its heat. Another reason to skip a cold shower on a hot day is that it might not help you get clean. When we get hot, we sweat – and this sweat mixes with sebum, another skin product and the bacteria on our skin, which produces body odour. Cold water has been shown to be less effective at removing and breaking down sebum and other detritus on the skin, compared to warmer water, which means body odour will persist. Cold water also causes the skin to tighten. This might potentially trap sebum and dirt within the pores. This can lead to blackheads, whiteheads and acne. But warm or lukewarm water can help dissolve and loosen material in the pores. As you plan your escape and recovery from the heat this week, a lukewarm or cool shower or bath, rather than a cold shower, is a safer and more effective choice. This will allow your body to dissipate heat away from your core without harm. Equally, if you do feel the need to go cooler, do it gradually so you aren't shocking the body's automatic temperature regulation system into action. Turning the temperature down gradually if you want to go cold, or slowly placing a limb in at a time can help with this process. Adam Taylor is a Professor of Anatomy at Lancaster University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Scientists reveal the real reason why your fingers wrinkle when you soak in the bath
It's a phenomenon we're all familiar with. You go for a swim, or enjoy a relaxing soak in the bath, and soon enough your fingers and toes go wrinkly. But have you ever wondered why this happens? A common misconception is that our fingers wrinkle due to swelling triggered by water absorption. Now, scientists have confirmed that this isn't the case – instead, it's all down to our blood vessels. Guy German, an associate professor in the department of biomedical engineering at Binghampton University, New York, recruited three volunteers to soak their fingers for 30 minutes. His team annotated the patterns of looped peaks and valleys that formed on the sodden skin. They discovered that these patterns mostly repeated themselves when they were soaked again 24 hours later. 'Often people assume that these winkles form because skin absorbs water, which makes it swell up and buckle,' he told The Conversation. 'To be honest, I did too for a long time.' However, it turns out it's actually our autonomic nervous system at work. This controls our involuntary movements such as breathing, blinking and our heart beating – as well as how our blood vessels contract and relax. Normally temperature, medication and what we eat and drink can influence how they behave. 'This contraction of your blood vessels is also what causes the skin to wrinkle after a lengthy swim,' Dr German said. 'When your hands and feet come into contact with water for more than a few minutes, the sweat ducts in your skin open, allowing water to flow into the skin tissue. 'This added water decreases the proportion of salt inside the skin. 'Nerve fibres send a message about lower salt levels to your brain, and the autonomic nervous system responds by constricting the blood vessels. 'The narrowing of the blood vessels causes the overall volume of skin to reduce, puckering the skin into these distinct wrinkle patterns. 'It's like how a dried-out grape becomes a wrinkled raisin – it's lost more volume than surface area.' He explained that submerged fingers usually reproduce the same wrinkly pattern because blood vessels 'don't change their position much'. The experiments, published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, also confirmed another theory – that wrinkles don't form in people who have nerve damage in their fingers. Dr German also revealed another advantage to wrinkled fingers and toes – grip. Researchers have found wrinkled skin can provide more grip underwater compared to unwrinkled, smooth skin. This could make walking along an underwater surface easier, with less likelihood of slipping.
