Green Veins and Blue Veins – Why Are They Green or Blue
What are these green veins or blue veins? Why do veins appear green or blue through the skin? Blood and veins are always red, but veins close to the skin’s surface appear green or blue because the color is filtered. The color of the vein is filtered by the yellow color of fat, carbon dioxide, and oxygen – making the red vein appear green or blue. Green veins or blue veins become more visible when they increase in size, mainly when there’s a dysfunction in the valves within your veins that impedes blood flow. Because of this dysfunction, backflow occurs, and blood accumulates in the vein, causing it to stretch, bulge, and enlarge. Treatment is not usually necessary, but in severe conditions, surgical and non-surgical procedures have to be performed. Blue veins or green veins on the legs, hands, chest, and various vein junctions, among other parts of the body, are most common. The size of these green or blue veins increases when undue pressure is exerted on the veins, such as prolonged standing and when exercising strenuously.
So why are veins green? Veins are always red, but veins that are seen through the skin look green or blue because the skin plus other things act as a color filter. These things that filter the red color include the yellow color of fat, carbon dioxide, and oxygen – making the red vein appear blue or green. What is the difference between blue vs. green veins? The color of your veins will depend on your skin undertones. If you have a warm undertone, your veins will appear green or blue on the surface of your skin. If your skin has cool undertones (or paler skin), your veins will appear blue. A skin undertone is a color underneath your skin, which reflects your skin’s overall color. So when comparing green veins vs. blue veins, warm undertones reflect green veins, while cool undertones reflect blue veins.
Why Do My Veins Appear Green?
Veins, a focal part of our circulatory system, carry the oxygen-depleted red blood back to a person’s heart for re-oxygenation. But the question is, why do my veins appear green if the blood is red? This condition may depend on your skin’s undertone, the amount of fat in your body, or your BMI. You don’t have to worry about the color of your veins; however, if they are bulging and becoming painful, this can also be an early sign of a common medical condition, i.e., venous insufficiency or vein disease.
Venous insufficiency - This condition may prevail when your vein valves get damaged and become inefficient in pumping blood back to the heart. In such a scenario, the blood may flow backward, causing the blood to pool in your legs, and when this happens, varicose veins develop that appear as green lines. You’re more likely to get this disease if you’re a female, over 50, pregnant, overweight, due to inheritance, hot weather conditions, smoking and drinking habits, hormonal changes, and family history or prolonged standing or sitting for hours.
If you experience these, you should consult a vein specialist to seek medical care. It is important to get it treated because it may lead to deep vein thrombosis or venous ulcers.
Signs and symptoms:
- Leg cramps
- Open wound leg ulcers
- Heavy legs
- Fatigue
- Itching
- Burning
- Eczema
- Spider veins
Why is vein green?
The blue of veins is visible due to the interaction of light with the skin, the amount of oxygen in the blood and other factors
Blood flowing in the body is bright red or dark red depending on the amount of oxygen in the blood. The veins themselves are not green, they are only green when seen through the skin. This blue is seen by four factors.
Vein colors are dominated by many factors:
- The first is the interaction of light with the skin in multiple wavelengths, equivalent to different colors. Light passes through the skin, absorbed and emitted back into the environment. The process of absorbing and radiating backwards takes place thousands of times in the blink of an eye. Scientists found that the veins emit a lot of blue , and only a very small amount of red, so we often see veins are green.
- The second factor is the amount of oxygen in the blood that affects the blood color and ability to absorb light. Oxygen is transported by red blood cells. A maximum red cell can carry four oxygen molecules. Under the surrounding effect such as high temperature, acid environment, one or more oxygen molecules will leave the red blood cells to make blood dark. This crimson color is still red in nature but easier to look into.
- The third element is the vein itself, especially its diameter and position . If the veins are located just under the skin, they will be red. The deeper you go, the color of the vein will gradually turn blue. Meanwhile, the vast majority of veins lie more than half a millimeter below the skin. This optical phenomenon is related to complex blood transport equations. Scientists have also observed a bit of green in arteries, but less, because the blood in the arteries is bright red. When light passes through the skin, the color difference between the veins and arteries will be amplified, so we see a green veins. Besides, arteries are usually small and deeper than the skin so they often don't see arteries.
- The last factor is the brain. Information collected from the retina to the brain is handled a lot. For example, purple is not always purple, when you put purple next to red, your brain will turn purple into blue. In the case of veins, the contrast of the surrounding skin also tends to make the veins appear green.
Why Are My Veins Green?
The blood inside your veins is dark red. So, many people wonder why veins look green or blue through the skin instead of red.
Veins are types of blood vessels. The other blood vessel types are capillaries and arteries. Blood vessels help transport blood and nutrients throughout your body.
The job of most veins is to carry oxygen-depleted blood from bodily tissues back to your heart. Your pulmonary artery brings your blood to your lungs, where it receives a fresh supply of oxygen. Your arteries then carry the oxygenated blood to your tissues and organs.
Vein
Veins (/veɪn/) are blood vessels in the circulatory system of humans and most other animals that carry blood towards the heart. Most veins carry deoxygenated blood from the tissues back to the heart; exceptions are those of the pulmonary and fetal circulations which carry oxygenated blood to the heart. In the systemic circulation, arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart, and veins return deoxygenated blood to the heart, in the deep veins.
There are three sizes of veins: large, medium, and small. Smaller veins are called venules, and the smallest the post-capillary venules are microscopic that make up the veins of the microcirculation. Veins are often closer to the skin than arteries.
Veins have less smooth muscle and connective tissue and wider internal diameters than arteries. Because of their thinner walls and wider lumens they are able to expand and hold more blood. This greater capacity gives them the term of capacitance vessels. At any time, nearly 70% of the total volume of blood in the human body is in the veins. In medium and large sized veins the flow of blood is maintained by one-way (unidirectional) venous valves to prevent backflow. In the lower limbs this is also aided by muscle pumps, also known as venous pumps that exert pressure on intramuscular veins when they contract and drive blood back to the heart.
