Why do my veins look purple?

You’re ok, blood is like that you know. When it hits oxygen it turns red, but when it hits our bodies it’s blue or purpleish. Especially the blood that’s on the way to the heart because it contains less oxygen, I think.

well this doesn’t happen to anyone else in my grade, and it is quite obvious.

dont worry about it. blood is a purplish blue when it is in your body just like truecomedian said. sometimes you can see others people veins more than others, dont even worry. you are fine(:

Under our skin our blood is purplish blue.

In the air the color changes, because it’s exposed to oxygen.

When you exercise, you are getting oxygen pumped through your body. Your blood is still a shade of blue at this time, but your skin might be redder or flushed [this happens in all colors of people]. When you’re cold or inactive, your skin becomes paler or less luminous [once again, all colors].

The reason is that when you exercise, the capillaries nearer the skin surface are getting higher blood flow, and when inactive they don’t.

Besides erroneously thinking that the blood in the veins is really blue, some people also think that the reason we don’t ever see blue blood is because blood oxygenates on contact with air. This is not true. However, textbooks commonly use blue to illustrate veins and red to illustrate arteries, so this may be the source of the misconception.

Blood is red. The color that we see is the result of the different rates of absorption and reflection for different wavelengths of light as they hit our skin. The appearance of your veins probably changes depending on your activity because of changes in skin temperature, elasticity, and moisture levels depending on your situation. It’s an optical illusion.

When you donate blood, it’s drawn from a vein, not an artery, and so has a compartively lower rate of oxygenation, and yet it is still red. The donation system is a closed system, not exposed to air – the idea that blood changes color and becomes red when exposed to air is a myth.

This affect does happen to your classmates, you just haven’t noticed it. Or they have a different level of melanin in their skin and so it’s harder to see. Or they have a thicker layer of subcutaneous fat, so it’s harder to see. This phenomenon is not specific to you.

Haha, I have to agree with syz. I’ve always wondered why the fluid that carries oxygen would react differently outside the body. Thanks syz!!

As an aside, there is one occasion in which we will see purplish-brown blood in veterinary medicine. Cats who have been given a toxic dose of Tylenol will have this unfortunate color when a sample is pulled. They invariably die soon after.

thanks yall! but how do i get it to go away permanently?? I think it mught be a thyroid problem because I show other symptoms of it like wait gain, trouble focusing, being tired all the time, and cold skin.

@kfmarani You’re not paying attention. It doesn’t “go away”, it just is. The other things that you mention warrant a discussion with your physician.

I am paying attention, I just do not understand that if it goes away sometimes, maybe my heart rate is too slow.

Could be SPIDER VEINS or VARICOSE VEINS

its not, im in 10th grade haha.

when i’m cold or sometimes when i get out of the shower my veins are very dark blue and show through my skin way more than usual. and i don’t have particularly light skin but times like those i can see every vein clearly. especially in my chest and hands.