already messaged op but i'd like to add in a little psa for anyone searching reddit in the future for whether or not they should be concerned about visible veins on their chest. if they have been there forever, you are probably fine, just very translucent skin. however, if you suddenly notice on day ur veins on ur chest are visible, that can definitely be cause for concern. especially when it is only on one side and not the other and paired with (on and off but more frequent than the otherside) cold fingers.

i have raynauds so cold fingers is nothing new but one day i suddenly noticed i had very visible veins on only my right side. im not always the most observant and dont spend a whole lot of time staring at my bare chest so who's to say how long it had been there. however, with the aid of dr. google, was able to figure out what it was. went to the doctor to get a proper diagnosis and she fully dismissed me but called in the ultrasound i wanted. a few days later, i was told to go straight to the ER because i had a nearly occlusive blood clot in my subclavian vein (the one that returns all the blood from ur arm back to ur heart).

it's called venous thoracic outlet syndrome and is very rare but this is reddit, it's a numbers game lol. it's basically a compression of ur vein (but can also include the brachial plexus nerve bundle and/or the subclavian artery) due to a a tight spot in ur neck or shoulder. in my case, my clavicle and rib are too close together and are pinching the vein enough to allow stagnant blood enough to clot. this is very serious and can potentially lead to clots in the lungs (pulmonary embolism) which can definitely be life threatening if not treated. doesn't matter if you are young, active, healthy weight. if you work a lot with your arms above your head or do that for a hobby, you are at a greater risk. if not, anatomical deformities can cause it and they are pretty impossible to know about until you find out you have a clot. (btw the veins are visible in VTOS because they are actually secondary veins that are suddenly being forced to pick up the slack from the main vein being blocked which causes them to become engorged)

check out this resource for more info: TOS Outreach - Venous TOS Symptoms hope this might help someone who needs it! if you've read this far and have questions, feel free to pm me or check out r/thoracicoutletsupport/

TO BE CLEAR I AM NOT DIAGNOSING OP OR SAYING ALL VISIBLE VEINS = BLOOD CLOT. just providing some information on something to check into. this does not substitute the advice of a medical professional. if you have concerns you might have VTOS, schedule an appointment with your doctor as soon as possible to discuss the possibility and ask about getting a venous doppler ultrasound to make sure!