Does the oral contraceptive pill cause varicose veins?

We’ve had a questions sent in to the ‘your questions’ page on the The Whiteley Clinic website asking about whether the Pill causes varicose veins?

“Well the good news is that there is no evidence that it does, however, being on the Pill can increase the risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis, which of course isn’t varicose veins and it may increase the risk of Thrombophlebitus. However, as long as you are a non-smoker the risk it quite small, the dangerous thing is to be on the Pill and to be a smoker because the risks multiply and that is a dangerous area to be in. However, with thread veins, because of the oestrogen and progesterone in the pills you can get a dilatation, a bit of fluid retention and this can certainly make things bulge a little more and become more prominent that is in varicose veins merely becoming more obvious on the surface. There is definitely a feeling if not evidence that thread veins may worsen on the pill.”