Question:
I am 18 weeks pregnant, and I do a lot of walking and don't spend as much time with my feet elevated like I should. I work sometimes at my father in laws drug store and spend a lot of time on my feet. I have noticed that my feet start really hurting after a while and spider veins are sprouting everywhere. My family has a history of varicose veins, but I am not exactly sure what they are supposed to look like. Do spider veins turn into varicose veins or are they two different things? Will I most likely get varicose veins since they run in my family? Do they go away after baby is born?

Answer: -I'm not sure I can really articulate this properly, but, to me, a varicose vein in your leg looks kind of like a fat worm under the skin. It may look sort of kinked-up. Sometimes you can see the blue-ish color of the vein through the skin, sometimes you just see a flesh-colored bulge. They can be sore... or not. I don't think that spider veins EVER turn into varicose veins. Yes, varicose veins can run in the family. It has to do with a valve that is either deficient to start with, or becomes incompetent. The blood flows down, but, due to gravity and the lame valve, doesn't go back upward as well. They can be caused by hormonal changes in early pregnancy, or by weight gain in later pregnancy. They are made worse by prolonged standing, and are made better by walking or elevating the legs above the level of the heart, or by wearing support stockings.(yuck.) And, no, I don't think they ever go away by themselves. But I could be wrong about that. -I have tons of both which I inherited at a very young age (13). But only in ONE leg. The spider veins look like a purplish bruise at a distance, but if you look closely it looks like you scratched yourself with a pin in a swirly pattern. The varicose ones hurt, and they do look like fat worms. Some of mine start at my crotch and end at my toe...and you can follow it down!! I am having surgery on them for a second time after the baby comes. I'm only 27 and my sis has had the surgery too. She's 25. And every woman in my family has them in their right leg only. Weird, or what?? Sometimes my leg is so puffy and swollen that I can't bend it at all. My leg is almost always asleep and itchy. It is awful. -I too had bad varicose veins in my right leg and had an operation to remove them. It was a waste of time however since I have them again now, along with 8 scars and a 4 inch scar in my groin. I was supposed to have the left leg done, although it wasn't as bad and the veins weren't painful like they were in my right leg, but after the pain and problems with my right leg I'm not going to bother now. Varicose veins run in our family. In fact we have vein problems fullstop with 4 deaths from aneurisms over the last 2 years. Varicose veins won't disappear after the pregnancy and sorry to say, none of my spider veins did either, although those ones didn't get any worse until this pregnancy. I might get the injections for the spider veins later down the track although it's pretty expensive, but the varicose veins can stay !