Varicose veins are those annoying, twisted, blue veins close to the surface of your skin. How do they occur? Well, first let's talk about the structure of a vein. The veins are composed of a one-way valve to assist the blood in traveling upwards towards the heart but sometimes these valves leak and blood then flows in the wrong direction. This backward flow causes the vein to overfill and then dilates branches of the veins closer to the skin. Varicose veins can occur by a variety of activities from pregnancy, constipation, heredity, and even sitting cross-legged or standing for long periods of time. It can happen to any of us healthy fashionistas!