Varicose veins

Veins that bulge, ache or show through the skin are the symptom this cluster covers. The five questions below run from what you can see to what happens after a diagnosis.

What you can see and feel

Start here if the vein itself is what caught your attention.

• What are bulging veins?
• Which symptoms do varicose veins cause?

Why it happens and how it is confirmed

my.clevelandclinic.org describes the healthy baseline first: "Normally, tiny valves in your leg veins keep blood moving toward your heart." The next two questions deal with what happens when that stops working and how a clinician checks.

• What causes varicose veins?
• How are varicose veins diagnosed?

After the diagnosis

On what to expect, my.clevelandclinic.org is direct: "There isn’t a cure. But treatments — and in some cases, procedures — can help you feel better and lower the risk of complications."

• What can people with varicose veins expect?

Three pages beyond this cluster

For context beyond this cluster, three pages from my.clevelandclinic.org are worth opening: a venous disease overview, a varicose veins guide and a page on spider veins.

A page cannot examine your leg

A web page cannot examine your leg, and a clinician who has looked at yours can say which of these questions actually applies.