visible penis veins

I am a 38 y/o male who has had visible prominant veins on my penis for years but am not sure if this is a problem or not. My penis skin is very thin and a few veins which are bluish appear to bulge thru the skin esp when the penis is erect or when the skin is stretched but even when its not they are still visible. A couple thin dark blue veins appear to be so close to the surface of the skin that they sometimes appear to be on the surface. esp during erection and im worried they will continue to push thru the skin. They dont hurt or cause any discomfort as far as i can tell although if im masturbating and stroke the shaft too hard it can sting or get irritated and i don know if this is irritation from touching the area of skin with the veins or if its due to the thinness of the skin or just too much friction. Is it dangerous or unnatural for the veins to be that visible or close to the surface or should i just accept it and ignore it.

[Stephen Liroff, MD]

Some men have small veins related to the skin and some have large ones. Their prominence varies from individual to individual and will change with an erection. Your description sounds to be that of a normal penis.
Vigorous sexual activity, be it masturbation, vaginal, anal or oral, may abrade the skin and be uncomfortable and is not related to the underlying veins. The skin will recover fairly quickly from the trauma.
S.A.Liroff, M.D.

"This information is provided for general medical educational purposes only. It
does not  necessarily reflect the opinions of Henry Ford  Hospital  or the
Vattikuti Urologic Institute.  Please consult your physician for diagnostic
and treatment options pertaining to your specific medical  condition.”

[Reggie18]

I have the same problem. It's not normal because I didn't use to have it before.  It's dark blue/purple veins in the shape of a pentagon that looks like it has arms and legs on the right side of my penis.  There is bruising around the area which varies in discoloration from day to day but never completely goes away.  I've seen other people post similar problems and the doctor's just say it's normal.  My penis tends to bend to the left slightly now whether hard or soft.  When I'm hard, the right side of the head of my penis is very noticably deflated while the left side is normal.  On the shaft, the side where my bruise is bows out and seems thicker than normal.  The weirdest thing is the seam underneath the center of my penis (or at least used to be) has shifted about 45 degrees to the left.  I've had this since november, it doesn't really seem to be getting worse, but I am very self-concious about it and have not been with anyone since.  I'm thinking they are varicose veins which would explain the deflated head and inflated shaft, but I think tiny busted cappilaries coming off the v.v.'s are causing the bruising.  I wish there was something I could do but I've pretty much accepted the fact that I'm screwed for life, which really, really sucks.

[big_vain_little_head]

A related discussion, I have the same problem was started.