Will Vitamin E Oil Help My Varicose Veins?

To alleviate the pain and swelling caused by varicose veins, many turn to at-home remedies, such as essential oils and other nutritional supplements. One natural solution you may have heard about is vitamin E oil.

Vitamin E can make your skin more supple and improve circulation. However, if you want to cure your varicose or spider veins, you’re out of luck with vitamin E oil, as it will not eliminate the bulging veins on your legs and feet. Only a medical procedure performed by a vein specialist can achieve that.

What vitamin E can do for your veins

Exercise and maintaining your ideal weight are the best ways to keep your veins healthy. But what you eat is also important. Vitamin C, for example, reduces inflammation and strengthens your vein walls. Vitamin E also contains properties beneficial for your veins.

Specifically, vitamin E prevents your blood platelets from sticking together. You might wonder why that is important. When blood platelets stick to the vein walls, it slows blood circulation, which could lead to the cramping you feel from varicose veins. The sticky blood cells could also form a clot in the leg veins. Vitamin E helps maintain healthy circulation. As your circulation improves, your risk for blood clots decreases.

In addition, vitamin E fights free radicals that damage healthy blood cells. The vitamin can strengthen your capillaries and veins, as well. As a moisturizer, vitamin E oil may slightly improve the appearance of varicose veins on your skin.

Although vitamin E oil is readily available as a supplement, you can also load up on the vitamin in your diet. Foods high in vitamin E include broccoli, spinach, kiwis, sunflower seeds, avocados, nuts, and wheat germ.

Vitamin E’s nutritional value is undisputed. It’s good for your veins, skin, and overall health. But vitamin E will not eliminate varicose or spider veins. Instead, look to proven treatments by your local vein specialist to reverse your vein disease.

Medical procedures are the only cure for varicose veins

Varicose veins and spider veins result from a malfunction deep within the vein. Tiny valves in the veins weaken when you age, gain weight, or become pregnant. Weakened valves have difficulty pumping blood back to the heart. As the blood backflows and pools in the vein, the vein walls expand and turn into a varicose vein or a flat spider vein. A vitamin supplement or lotion, however otherwise beneficial, will not reverse this malfunction.

Instead, you can explore several minimally invasive surgical options performed by a qualified vein specialist to treat your varicose veins. These procedures have been used for decades to successfully and safely eliminate varicose veins and spider veins.

Sclerotherapy. A safe solution called a sclerosant is injected into the varicose vein, irritating the vein walls and forcing the vein to collapse. Blood diverts to healthier veins, and the affected vein is eventually reabsorbed into the body. Sclerotherapy is a common procedure for both spider veins and smaller varicose veins.

VenaSeal. A newer treatment for varicose veins, VenaSeal involves using a proprietary medical adhesive to close the vein.

Thermal Ablation. The doctor inserts a catheter into the vein through which a thin fiber is placed during this procedure. The heat from either a laser or radiofrequency waves destroys the affected vein.

Ambulatory Phlebectomy. The diseased vein is extracted via two tiny incisions. The incisions are so small that you’ll leave with nothing more than a band-aid. Ambulatory phlebectomy is typically recommended for larger varicose veins.

Vitamin E can help your overall health, but your only cure for varicose veins is a medical procedure performed by a professional. These treatments can be completed as brief outpatient sessions. Because you only need local anesthesia (or perhaps even none at all), you can quickly return to your normal routine with few restrictions. Vitamin E can help with your overall health, but your only cure for varicose veins is a medical procedure performed by a professional.

We can treat your varicose veins

Center for Vein Restoration (CVR) offers vein treatments at its three locations in Atlanta. Each office is led by an experienced physician with many years of training in treating vein disorders.

Keith S. Moore, MD, is a board-certified general surgeon specializing in vein procedures. Louis Prevosti, MD, FACS, is board-certified in thoracic and cardiovascular surgery. James Fonger, MD, FRCS, is a board-certified physician in general and cardiovascular surgery.

Contact us for a consultation today!

Camp Creek Medical Center

3886 Princeton Lakes Way

Suite 140

Atlanta, GA 30331

Northside Center Pointe

1100 Johnson Ferry Road NE

Suite 165

Atlanta, GA 30342

Gwinnett Professional Center

601 Professional Drive

Suite 170

Lawrenceville, GA 30046