While making this Simple Anti Aging Face Lotion Recipe, I’ve read about the benefits of horse chestnut extract to treat varicose veins. That’s how this recipe was born – it’s actually a lotion, not a cream, but these are just details. Learn more about this natural varicose veins cream recipe.
Table of Contents
- Varicose Veins and How to Treat Them
- Horse Chestnut Extract
- Menthol
- Natural Varicose Veins Cream Recipe
- Find Natural Creams to Treat Varicose Veins
- Related Posts
- Watch This Video Before Starting Your Recipe
Varicose Veins and How to Treat Them
Varicose veins are twisted, swallen, enlarged – and ugly-looking – veins. Any vein may become varicosed but the most common ones are those in your legs. Signs you may have varicose veins include:
- Veins that are dark purple or blue in color
- Veins that appear twisted and bulging, like cords on your legs
They happen when valves in the veins allow blood to flow in the wrong direction or to pool. For many people, varicose veins are simply a cosmetic concern, and rarely need treatment for health reasons. For other people, varicose veins can cause aching pain and discomfort. Sometimes varicose veins lead to more-serious health problems. See more in Mayoclinic website.
Symptoms
When painful signs and symptoms occur, they may include:
- An achy or heavy feeling in your legs
- Burning, throbbing, muscle cramping and swelling in your lower legs
- Worsened pain after sitting or standing for a long time
- Itching around one or more of your veins
- Skin discoloration around a varicose vein
And causes? Potential risk factors to develop varicose veins are:
- pregnancy
- being aged over 50 or menopause
- standing for long periods
- family history of varicose veins
- obesity
How to Treat
Varicose veins are usually not a health concern so no real treatment is necessary. You’ll probably be advised to make changes to your lifestyle to prevent them:
- Avoid standing for long periods of time
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Exercise to improve circulation
- Use compressions tockings
When varicose veins become painful or damage your overall health (like the existance of blood clots) then your doctor might want to try more agressive treatments, like surgery.
If you believe you have varicose veins, please, see a doctor first. Especially to make sure you don’t have a more serious health problem. This recipe is in no way a means to replace any sort of medical intervention.
Horse Chestnut Extract
Extract from the horse chestnut seed is a popular dietary supplement commonly used to improve vein health and reduce inflammation.
According to Healthline, it is known to improve blood flow and help with chronic venous insufficiency, varicose veins, male infertility (caused by varicocele), containing potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
The studies supporting these claims state that horse-chestnut may be as effective and well tolerated as the use of compression stockings. They also say that more high quality randomized controlled trials are required to confirm the effectiveness.
Aescin is the main active substance responsible for these medicinal properties. It is a mixture of saponins with anti-inflammatory, vasoconstrictor and vasoprotective effects.
Beware that raw horse-chestnut plant also contains significant amounts of a substance called esculin and can cause death if eaten raw. Horse chestnut extract is processed to remove the esculin and keep the aescin. Make sure you only use the processed horse chestnut extracts we find in store shelves.
I didn’t find any evidence about how much horse chestnut extract you can apply topically to have some noticeable effect. But I’ll respect the percentage used in topical products: 2%.
Menthol
My first batch of this lotion recipe didn’t have any menthol. I’ve still received positive feedback that this lotion helped with varicose veins, so horse chestnut must have some healing effect over them.
Still, menthol crystals bring some additional properties, that will help with varicose veins:
- chemical “cool effect” and antipruridic (great to help with itching)
- topical analgesic (good for mild pain and muscle cramping)
- good penetration enhancer for transdermal delivery of horse-chestnut extract
Natural Varicose Veins Cream Recipe
Hempseed oil also possesses anti-inflammatory properties, is a light, skin soothing oil, adequate for skin conditions. However, you may use your choice of oil like sunflower.
Aloe vera gel helps heal sunburns and many skin conditions, being also a mild moisturizer and a skin soother. As aloe vera may be a skin irritant, make a skin test first before you add it to this recipe. In doubt, just replace distilled water for aloe vera.
Peppermint essential oil adds something herbal to the minty aroma. It also has menthol in its composition, so you may want to skip it, especially if you have sensitive skin.
In summary, this recipe contains natural ingredients chosen to help you heal varicose veins, or at least reduce some of its symptoms. If you have sensitive skin, you may want to reduce the amount of menthol, or aloe vera gel, replacing both with distilled water.
Find Natural Creams to Treat Varicose Veins
Do you want to try a natural cream to help you with varicose veins, but you’re not into DIY? Find natural creams for varicose veins in the following links:
- Handmade Varicose Veins Balm (Etsy)
- Varicose Veins Cream (iHerb)
Related Posts
- Vegetable Oils: Natural Oils For Your Skin
- Essential Oils: Essential Oils for Skin Care Products
- How To Make Lotions – Emulsion Tutorial Guide: How To Make An Emulsion For Skincare
- More Skincare Recipes: Lotions and Creams Recipes Category
Watch This Video Before Starting Your Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Oil Phase
- 10 g hempseed oil sunflower or sweet almond oil
- 2 g menthol crystals
- 4 g emulsifying wax NF
Water Phase
- 25 g aloe vera gel or juice or distilled water
- 10 g distilled water
Cooling Phase
- 0,6 ml essential oil peppermint (optional)
- 1 g horse-chestnut extract
- 0,25 ml vitamin E oil (tocopherol)
- 0,25 g Liquid Germall Plus or Euxyl k940 (1%)
Instructions
Preparations
- Learn the basics of making lotions in How To Make An Emulsion For Skincare or watch the video above. They don't have a recipe, but show generic steps of how to make a lotion (emulsion).
- Disinfect all your equipment before starting. You can boil some of your equipment (like the double boiler, glass cups, spoons), and use a solution of 1 liter of water with 1/2 cup of bleach, for items that are not heat-resistant (like the milk frother, plastic cups or the lotion containers)
Water Phase
- Measure all the water phase ingredients – aloe vera, water – into a cup
- Heat the water ingredients in low heat to around 50ºC – 122ºF. You can use the microwave but the best is to heat in bagne-marie. Do not let the aloe vera to heat above 60ºC – 140ºF.
Oil Phase
- Measure all oil phase ingredients into the double boiler
- Place the double boiler over a pan with water (bagne-marie) and let emulsifying wax melt in low heat.NOTE: menthol crystals may irritate your eyes or nose if you inhale its vapors. Use a mask or be careful to not expose yourself to the oil phase vapors.
Cooling Phase
- Measure all cooling phase ingredients into a small cup. NOTE: The preservative is not optional. Use the quantities as per manufacturer instructions. I use Euxyl k940 at 1%.
Making your Lotion
- Measure the temperature of both the water and the oils. Make sure the aloe vera is at a higher temperature than the oils (around 50ºC – 122ºF).
- Pour the water into the oils. The mixture will immediately turn milky.
- Blend the mixture well with a milk frother. If you find lumps in the mixture, heat it a little more (on low heat), and use the milk frother to dissolve the lumps.
- The mixture will become creamy but runny.
- When the mixture is around 50ºC (122ºF) or lower, pour the cooling phase ingredients and mix well with a spoon or the milk frother.
Finishing your Lotion
- It's time to measure your lotion pH. It should be around 5.5 (5-6). Add one teaspoon of citric acid dissolved in water (you can also use lemon juice) if pH is too high, or a teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in water if pH is too low. Add as many teaspoon as needed but one or two should be enough.
- Pour your lotion into an airless pump bottle. You can also use a tin container, but the pump bottle protects your lotion against oxidation, dirt contamination or getting in contact with your fingers.
I always thought that those veins were normal. There are a lot of people, especially body builders with those type of veins. I always thought that it was because they are really buff. Well, you learn something new everyday. I will be sure to share this article with friends and family
Hello Daniel and thanks for your comment.
The veins you are talking about are normal and healthy, and “good-looking” to people as they pass an image of strenght. Varicose veins are not. They are usually blueish, warped, ugly-looking and unwanted by people that have them.
Some may be only a mild version of varicose veins and pass unnoticed, while the person is still healthy in general. Some are serious and they are a symptom of diseases like chronic venous insufficiency or deep vein thrombosis. It is usually related with bad circulation and valve issues, it’s a blood flow problem.
This lotion has a substance – horse chestnut extract – that was studied as having some positive effect in healing/reducing varicose veins. I actually bought this plant extract for wrinkles, but asked a couple of friends to try the lotion on face and body. One asked me if I knew that the lotion was good for varicose veins (since I don’t have this condition myself). So, I personally confirmed the study conclusion of this plant extract over varicose veins.
Still, in no way I want to state that this is a good medicin for varicose veins. ANY medical condition should be followed by a doctor (which I am not), follow the prescriptions he/she gives, and, if using this lotion or any other, ask the doctor if this is ok.
Hope this clarifies the subject.
Cheers,
Sofia