Why do I Have Varicose Veins?
Why do I have varicose veins and what causes this condition? Your body has over 160,000 kilometers of blood vessels working hard to get oxygen to your cells and keep you alive. Arteries carry oxygen loaded blood away from your heart lungs while veins take carbon dioxide back for recycling. For the most part, your circulatory system runs smoothly but because the veins below your heart especially the ones in your legs have to work against gravity sometimes things can go wrong. What Causes Varicose Veins Changes, like getting older or gaining extra weight, can make blood pool up and form lumpy varicose veins. Veins have a bunch of one-way valves to make sure blood flows toward the heart without backtracking but there are a lot of ways these valves can stop working. One is age as you get older your muscle fibers get thinner and weaker so the vein valves can't open and shut as smoothly anymore. Malfunctioning valves can also be hereditary so genetics might be a factor...