I’ve wondered about this for a long time (since I was a little kid). I have very prominent veins on the back of my hands and top of my feet. I’ve had 'em for as long as I can remember. Although sometimes they lie flat, a lot of the time they actually form raised lines on my skin. These aren’t varicose veins, just really prominent, visible veins.
Now, I have had some people tell me this is of no importance. I have had others tell me it is a sign of grave circulatory disorders. They usually tell me this after meeting my mother, who has the same sort of thing, and who has also had 5 or 6 heart attacks, two heart surgeries, and a stroke (and still walking around on her own two feet, tough lady). Well, I myself seem to display no sign of heart disease and, in fact, have blood pressure and cholesterol readings someone half my age could envy. So maybe this vein thing is unrelated to my mother’s health problems.
I’ve also been told it’s a sign that you have little excess bodyfat. While that’s a flattering thought to a woman heading into her late 30’s, the rest of my physique doesn’t quite square with that. I’m not fat, but I do have some good curves, if you know what I mean.
I’ve also been told that excercise causes this in some people, and since I do a lot with my hands, and I also hike alot, that could account for this. But from childhood?
So I was just wondering if anyone knows why I’ve got these prominent veins and what, if any, significance they may or may not have.
Haven’t had the bodyfat checked, but the cholesterol is 110, the blood pressure is 110/75, and resting heart is 70. It don’t get much better than that when you’re pushing 40.
I’ve had doctors tell me it’s nothing of significance and others tell me it’s a sure sign of something dire - just because someone’s an MD doesn’t mean they know everything.
I, like you, have had them ever since I can remember. Aways considered it an inherited trait. My tendons also show. Kept me from being a hand model but I’ve ALWAYS recieved complimentes on my hands.
Plus, it’s great at the doctors office when they can’t get a vein up in my arm—just hang it in the hand.
Broomstick, exchicagoan - do you also have prominent veins on your forearms? Calves? All without the benefit of working out (Broom, I know you hike)?
Probably just a case of unharmful genetic traits. IANAD, but I’d only worry about them if the veins were rock-hard, do not give when pressed down, or if there is no tingling or discoloration in your hands/feet.
I’ll bet. Shoulda had me taking the hand pictures. I would have used you in a heartbeat.
Veiny hands & feet in women are a fairly common “fetish” (if you want to call it that). Still, you’ll never see veins as a requirement in a personal ad (AFAIK). I guess it seems too weird.
I’ve always had 'em, as I said, even when a little kid before I got really athletic - I hike, cross country ski, and bike, too. After a good workout I have visible stand-up veins up the front of my legs (not the meaty part of the calves) but the ones on the feet are the ones that seem to always be visible.
I used to lift weights quite a bit in high school, and when “pumped” the veins were prominent along the inner part of my forearms as well as the back of my hands, but, again, not on the “meaty” part of the arms, like you see on the gonzo body-builders.
Like exchicagoan, they’ve come in handy when needing blood drawn, donating blood, or getting an IV - very easy to find and stab. Only one time when they weren’t - I was in the back of an ambulance and starting to go into shock, which makes anyone’s veins hard to find.
Would seem to be related somewhat to blood pressure, given the above, but my blood pressure isn’t elevated - maybe my blood vessels have a little more give than average, keeping the pressure low but making the little beggers stand up and be noticed? My mother, despite her severe heart and circulatory problems, still does not have high blood pressure, either.
The vein that goes past your wrist: Is that on the thumb-side or the pinky-side of your hand? Or both? The thumb-side vein running past the wrist is the more common of the two. A pinky-side vein running upwwards from the hand & past the wrist is visually interesting because often it leads to an attractive, thicker vein running all the way to the inner elbow.
BTW, sounds like you & (definitely) Broomstick have some nice veins on the inside of you elbows, too. Probably a pair of veins inside of each elbow, actually.
You are certainly not alone. I wonder if being a hand-looker is more common in men or women? Proably even-steven, IMO. I have heard commens from both sexes concerning the attractiveness of hands & feet in the oppposite sex.
Got three very visible veins running along the inside of the wrists on each side along with some less obvious smaller ones, which do some “networking” and join up into one vein leading to the (pinky side) elbow. Have some minor veins surfacing in the bend of the elbow.
Still think the back of my hands have a much greater population of prominent veins, though. Back in art school had a lot of folks ask to draw my hands because in the right light you get a lot of shapes and shadings.
Those art students were on to something. The visual complexity of hands (and arms & feet) such as yours is what makes them so interesting and pleasant to look at.
Normally, hands will be more vascular than the forearms above, as you’ve noted. Still, going from your description, your arms sound unusually well-veined, statistically speaking. I’d bet not one in 1000 women have forearms like yours.
In general, I say the more veins the merrier. Vascularity, however, can be taken to pretty wild extremes, as this woman demonstrates: