Can compression stockings prevent spider veins?
August 4, 2023 • mdconnect • Spider Veins
Spider veins are small veins that you can see through the skin and are one of the earliest signs that you’re developing a vein disorder. Compression stockings can help relieve symptoms of vein problems, but can they prevent spider veins from occurring in the first place?
What are spider veins?
Spider vein happens in a diameter of less than a mm (across). You wouldn’t want to confuse spider veins with just any little vein you can see through the thinner skin, like the inside of your elbow or wrist. Instead, this looks more like splotches of tiny veins branching out (a bit like a spider web). They are reddish but can be bluish when they happen in the slightly larger reticular veins (3mm).What causes spider veins?
Spider veins are like a varicose vein’s the little sister who wants to be just like the older sibling. In both cases, the valves that help the vein get unoxygenated blood back up to the heart have stopped closing properly, so gravity takes the blood back down, increasing the pressure on the vein walls. Those veins expand and bulge. So, even if you don’t have varicose veins yet, having spider veins indicates that your veins are starting to fail. And if the cause isn’t addressed, you’ll likely develop varicose veins and more of them.What causes these veins to fail?
A series of factors can contribute. Some are modifiable, while others aren’t:- Genetics
- Family history
- Carrying extra weight (muscle or fat)
- Standing or walking for more than four hours.
- Sitting for long periods
- Missing certain nutrients in the diet, particularly potassium, fiber, and flavonoids (in green tea)
- Hormone changes
- Birth control
- Hormone replacement (which still has
- Lack of physical activity
- Smoking