Treating Broken Blood Vessels & Pregnancy

Video Transcript

"Hello! My name is Michelle Collins, and I'm a certified nurse-midwife and professor of nursing at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing. Today we're talking about broken blood vessels and pregnancy. Why do blood vessels become broken is a question that's popular to ask. Well, women have about 60 percent more blood volume in their blood vessels when they're pregnant. And so because the blood vessels are so full and the hormones also relax the walls of the blood vessel, sometimes that combines for bursting of the little, tiny blood vessels that women might see manifested as little spider hemangiomas which look literally like little, tiny red spiders over their face, arm, and chest. Another cause for these broken blood vessels is something that's very common for pregnant women to do, and that's vomiting in the first trimester or for some women throughout the whole pregnancy. But that coughing action can break those tiny, little blood vessels. Sometimes they'll be over the face as well. These little spider hemangiomas will usually resolve after the pregnancy is over and there's no need to worry about them. If a woman feels that there is a large blood vessel that's warm to the touch, maybe hard when she feels it, it's specially painful and the back of her leg, she should let her midwife or physician know right away 'cos that can be a sign of a more serious problem."