Usually visible chest veins are completely normal. They can vary in appearance due to size, skin tone, amount of subcutaneous fat and location. Genetics mostly decides the appearance of our chest veins.
Chest veins can definitely become more prominent for varying reasons.
Age alone, with loss of collagen can cause our veins to become more visible.
Significant weight loss results in loss of our subcutaneous fat. This brings the veins closer to the skin surface making them look more prominent.
Women who have had breast augmentation, both reduction and and implants, often complain of their chest veins becoming more visible. Implants will commonly thin the overlying skin causing the chest veins to become more visible.
There are other, much less common causes of prominent chest veins including cancer, vein clotting or thrombosis and prior vein surgeries like dialysis catheters, fistulas or grafts.
The easiest way to treat chest veins is with sclerotherapy. Sclerotherapy is the process of injecting a solution into the vein with a tiny needle. The solution or sclerosant causes the vein to vasospasm. The vein shrinks and the body starts to resorb the vein. Over the following weeks and months, the vein starts to disappear.
Before and After
