Varicose veins are twisted and enlarged veins visible through the surface of the skin. Compared to a healthy vein, an affected vein is often blue, purple, or red in color and can lay flat on your skin or become bulging veins. While not a serious medical condition, varicose vein bumps can be bothersome and unflattering to outfits that need you to show some skin.
So how can you hide varicose vein bumps? To temporarily hide your varicose vein bumps, you can use cosmetics products makeup or wear loose clothing to minimize their visibility. However, if you want a more permanent solution to hide their appearance, you may want to look into spider veins treatment or a varicose veins treatment that are only offered in a vein specialist clinic.
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How to Temporarily Hide My Varicose Vein Bumps
While spider and varicose veins are generally harmless to your health, they can take a toll on one’s self-confidence. With some varicose veins causing unsightly bumps on people’s skin, many try to cover them up in various ways. If you’re trying to minimize the appearance of your spider and varicose veins, here are a few methods you can try out:
1) Cover-up With Makeup
While makeup may not remove the appearance of the actual bump, it can cover the blue and purple tones of your varicose veins. By matching the makeup to your natural skin color, the veins will more likely blend with the rest of your skin making them almost undetectable at first glance.
Though this is not a permanent solution – you’ll have to apply makeup every time you go out if you choose to cover your veins – this does offer a quick cover-up as it only takes a few minutes to apply foundation or concealer to the area.
With the use of makeup, it’s important to note that in addition to being temporary, the coverage may fade throughout the day as well, possibly making your varicose veins more visible later in the day. If you’re expecting to be out throughout the day, it’s advisable to touch up the area with makeup or powder every so often to maintain the level of coverage.
2) Get A Tan With Self-Tanner
Another popular suggestion when it comes to hiding varicose vein bumps is using self-tanner. Self-tanner in itself can hide many skin imperfections and give you a healthy glow without needing to be exposed to UV rays that will worsen your varicose vein condition. Like makeup, self-tanner cannot remove the actual bump caused by the vein but it can make it blend into your skin to a point that it’s less detectable.
Unlike the isolated application of makeup to cover your swollen veins, it’s important to apply self-tanner all over your body in an even manner and not just the area with varicose veins. This will ensure that everything blends together and effectively hides the vein bumps on your skin. Applying to just that area will most likely draw even more attention to the area as it doesn’t match the rest of your skin.
3) Wear Looser Clothing
The easiest way to cover up your varicose vein bumps if found on your body is to wear looser clothing that will hide the areas with visible veins. By wearing looser or flowy clothing you also limit the chance of the bumps and building to see through your clothes which can happen with tighter pieces of clothes. This can also prevent your condition from progressively worsening.
Tight clothing can further constrict your varicose veins preventing blood flow in your blood vessels which can lead to more blood pools and twisted veins. While loose clothing can only hide your already existing veins, it is unlikely to cause any further damage as well.
4) Wear Compression Stockings Under Your Clothes
While compression stockings are known for giving your veins support, they can also work similarly to shapewear for your varicose vein bumps. Wearing them under your clothes especially on your legs will smooth out the appearance of a bump over your clothes and leave them virtually undetectable.
Some people also opt to integrate their compression stockings into their outfits entirely as they are very similar to tights depending on the color. Whether you choose to wear it as shapewear under your clothing or as a key part of your outfit, they will be able to hide your varicose veins effectively.
Read More: Are Varicose Veins Genetic?
How to Permanently Remove My Varicose Vein Bumps
While temporary remedies are good, they can get tiring and repetitive to do, especially every day. You can opt to have our varicose veins permanently removed. Some procedures to completely eliminate your varicose veins are laser therapy, vein injections, and vein stripping, among others.
1) Laser Therapy
If you want a more permanent solution to hiding your varicose and spider veins, laser therapy and laser treatments have a 94% success rate in eliminating superficial veins and deeper veins that make up your varicose veins. Laser therapy works by targeting the purple veins on your skin surface with heat and forcing them to collapse.
Without the possibility of blood flow in that area, those veins will naturally fade and blood will get rerouted to other veins. As the vein slowly disappears, blood clots and blood pools will no longer settle in that area resulting in your varicose vein bumps disappearing along with the closed vein.
2) Vein Injections
Vein injections or sclerotherapy can also provide a longer-term solution to hiding your varicose vein bumps. Vein injections use a special solution that is administered directly into your varicose vein walls and causes them to gradually collapse.
Once the vein has collapsed, blood circulation will no longer be able to pass there preventing excess blood from pooling in that area. Like laser therapy, the collapsed vein will slowly be absorbed into the body and effectively remove the visible veins on the skin surface.
3) Vein Stripping
Vein stripping is probably the most invasive procedure you have to address your varicose vein bumps as it will require you to go under general anesthesia. This procedure will address the varicose veins in your legs particularly.
Once under anesthesia, the surgeon will remove the larger veins and superficial saphenous veins that are prone to blood clots and extra blood pooling in them. The entire procedure could take anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half with a recovery time of 2 to 4 weeks.
Once the veins have been removed there should be visible veins on your skin or any remnants of their previous existence.
Things That May Be Making The Appearance of Veins Worse
While there are many ways to hide your varicose vein bumps either temporarily or permanently, you should also stay away from the things that could make them more prominent on your skin.
Gaining extra weight whether it be from a sedentary lifestyle or pregnancy can exaggerate the appearance of varicose veins as they put extra pressure on your veins and will lead you to become more susceptible to forming clots in veins.
If you think that it’s possible that your weight has caused your varicose vein bumps to be more visible, you may want to discuss with your doctor what bracket you should be in to maintain a healthy weight.
Aside from weight gain, hormones from pregnancy and birth control pills have been known to cause skin discoloration which can aggravate the appearance of both varicose body and facial veins.
If your varicose vein bumps are caused by either of these reasons, you should consider switching birth controls or ask your doctor if there’s anything you can do while pregnant to control your varicose veins.
Treat Your Varicose Vein Bumps at Vein Center Doctor
Though varicose veins occur in almost half of the adult population, they can still cause people to be self-conscious about their appearance. While there are many temporary solutions and quick fixes that one can do to hide varicose vein bumps, it can grow to be quite tiresome to constantly have to think about it.
Here at the Vein Clinic Doctor, we offer cosmetic vein treatments that will get rid of those varicose veins permanently. With our team of highly-trained experts, you can be assured that you will have safe and effective treatments to address your venous concerns whatever they may be. Call us today to know more about services or book an appointment online.
Read More: A Complete Guide to Your Non Surgical Varicose Vein Treatment
