Perforating veins are blood vessels in the legs that connect the superficial leg veins just under the skin to the deep leg veins under the muscles. Perforating veins are sometimes called communicating veins.
Damage or disease in the perforating vein system can lead to varicose veins, which are twisted, enlarged veins that can occur anywhere a vein is close to skin, but which occur most often in the legs.
| Author | Jeannette Curtis |
| Author | Caroline Rea, RN, BS, MS |
| Editor | Kathleen M. Ariss, MS |
| Editor | Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA |
| Associate Editor | Tracy Landauer |
| Associate Editor | Pat Truman |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | Patrice Burgess, MD - Family Medicine |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine |
| Primary Medical Reviewer | Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine |
| Last Updated | May 25, 2007 |
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