Are varicose veins hereditary?

Dr Alex Vesey is our expert consultant vascular surgeon who heads up our varicose vein team at McKeown Medical. Here, he discusses whether varicose veins are hereditary.

Published by Dr Alex Vesey

Date posted — 15.08.24

Varicose veins can be hereditary, meaning they commonly run in families. We often see people in the clinic who say “my legs look just like my mum’s or my dad’s”.

If a close relative, like a parent or grandparent, has varicose veins, you are more likely to develop them as well. While heredity is a significant risk factor, other factors such as age, gender, obesity, and prolonged standing or sitting can also contribute.

We offer a range of treatment options for varicose veins including VenaSeal™ – the most up to date method of treating varicose veins that causes less pain and allows you to get back to normal almost immediately, without the hassle of wearing bandages or compression stockings.

Get in touch with our friendly team and we’ll help you find the right varicose vein treatment for you.

Dr Alex Vesey

Our vascular surgery service is led by Dr Alex Vesey. Alex is a highly skilled vascular surgeon with extensive experience in diagnosing and treating a wide range of vascular conditions. With a focus on minimally invasive techniques, Dr. Vesey is dedicated to providing patients with the most advanced and effective treatments for venous diseases, with a particular interest in the treatment of varicose veins.

Related Articles

General

Everything you need to know about VenaSeal™ vein treatment

When it comes to treating varicose veins, VenaSeal™ has emerged as a revolutionary option that offers a minimally invasive and...

General

RFA vs EVLA treatment for varicose veins

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and endovenous laser ablation (EVLA) are two minimally invasive treatments used to effectively treat varicose veins, but...

General

Exploring different treatments to get rid of varicose veins

Varicose veins are enlarged, twisted veins that often appear just under the skin, primarily in the legs and feet.

We're going live tonight at 7pm! Join Dr Rhona and Dr Iain (@driainmartin)  this evening on Instagram live, where they'll be discussing everything about perimenopause & menopause, including: �

Symptoms & early signs 
Treatment options, including HRT 
Myths vs facts - getting the right information 

They'll also be answering your questions live, so if there's anything you'd like to ask, leave a comment, send us a message or head to our stories. 

We hope you can join us!
The nose can be one of the most challenging parts of the face to get right. 

This lovely patient had a previous rhinoplasty, but she felt it was over done, making it too short and upturned. I used some filler to restore some height to the bridge of the nose as well as lengthen and de-rotate the tip.

She is over the moon with the result, which looks much more natural than the previous surgery. What do you think?
Happy International Women’s Day! Today, our incredible women’s health team are in the Herald talking about access to women’s health services in Scotland. You can read the full article at the link in our bio.

We carried out a survey of our patients and were blown away by the response - almost 1200 of you replied, and the message was very clear. Women don’t feel their health problems are taken seriously by the medical establishment and they are tired of being fobbed off. The Scottish Government introduced a plan to overhaul women’s health services from 2021 - 2024. Yet here we are in 2025 and our survey is saying that nothing has changed. 

We’re calling on the government to go further and faster! What’s your view?
We’ve just announced our brand new women’s health service, and the first clinic we’re introducing is our menopause service. 

Led by our consultant gynaecologist, Dr Iain Martin, our service is designed to deliver expert, evidence-based care for women navigating the menopause. 

We’ve developed our service to give you access to expert advice and support with packages that put your priorities and goals at the heart of everything. From simple menopause consultations where we assess your symptoms and, where appropriate, make recommendations on HRT prescriptions, to more advanced consultations with investigations and tests to help you optimise your health, our priority is making sure you are listened to and feel heard. 

We also know that continuity of care matters, so in addition to our menopause packages we’re delighted to announce our menopause subscription service, allowing you to have regular follow ups and ongoing care with the same specialist as your needs evolve. 

If you’d like to know more about any of our packages, check the link in our bio to visit our website, or send us a message and we’d be delighted to help.
We’re delighted to announce the launch of our new women’s health services today!

We asked you - our patients - how this service should look and over 1200 of you responded to say that you’re tired of being dismissed and that you want specialist care with continuity. At McKeown Medical, we plan to change that. 

Launching today, our women’s health service - led by our medical director Dr Rhona Cameron and consultant gynaecologist Dr Iain Martin (@driainmartin) - has been designed, using your feedback, to give you the access to the expert advice and investigations you need to take control of your health. 

Our menopause clinic includes a range of options depending on your needs, from a simple consultation and follow up with Dr Iain, to blood testing and an overall wellness screening. 

Here’s Dr Iain with a quick introduction, and you can check the link in our bio for more information on our menopause options!
Thank you so much to our incredible patient for allowing us to share her picture. 

This patient had a challenging problem, with some pretty deep lines all around the mouth. To tackle a problem like this, we need to take a combined approach - no one treatment on its own is going to cut it. We did some laser resurfacing to smooth the surface of the skin, and added in a little volume to take out the deeper folds. 

This is her a couple of months out and looking and feeling great. What do you think?
Some Friday night reading fun! 

This is a letter I sent to Jenni Minto this week, in response to her suggestion that her job is to balance protecting the public with protecting the business interests of beauty salons. 

There is no other way to describe it: she is simply wrong. I sent this letter to her earlier this week, and have been talking to the Herald about the issues. I just cannot get my head around her logic. In no other area of regulation would you consider relaxing standards to protect business interests knowing full well that those relaxed standards harm the public? 

You can read the full story in the Herald at the link in our bio. 

What do you think?

Join us on Instagram to keep up with the latest results and expert insights from the clinic team.