Plantar digital veins
Venae digitales plantares
Small veins on the undersides of the toes that drain the plantar skin of the digits and unite to form the plantar metatarsal veins.
At a glance
- English
- Plantar digital veins
- Latin (TA2)
- Venae digitales plantares
- System
- Vein
- Region
- Foot
- Side
- Paired, left and right
About the plantar digital veins
The plantar digital veins collect blood from the undersides of the toes. Each arises from a fine venous plexus in the thick padded skin and fat on the plantar surface of a digit, beneath the skin creases. From there the veins run back along the plantar margins of the toes towards the clefts between them, close to the plantar digital arteries and nerves.
Near the bases of the toes they divide their flow in two directions. Part of their blood passes upwards through the intercapitular veins, which slip between the heads of the metatarsal bones to reach the dorsal digital veins on the back of the foot. The rest continues backwards: the veins from adjacent sides of neighbouring toes unite to form the plantar metatarsal veins. These run back in the spaces between the metatarsals and end in the deep plantar venous arch, which in turn drains into the medial and lateral plantar veins and so into the posterior tibial veins of the leg.
This double route means the toes are drained by both the superficial and the deep venous systems. The superficial path through the dorsum leads to the saphenous veins, while the deep path through the sole leads to the deep veins that accompany the arteries. Pressure on the sole during standing tends to drive blood along the intercapitular link towards the dorsum.
The plantar digital veins have little importance alone in clinical practice. They form part of the foot's venous pump, however, and the dense plexus beneath the toe pads helps to warm the toes and to cushion them. Poor venous return and swelling of the toes are seen when this drainage is impaired, for example in chronic venous disease or after prolonged standing.
Course and drainage
- Begins at
- Arise from fine venous networks beneath the pads of the toes, on their undersides.
- Drains into
- Send intercapitular veins to the dorsal digital veins, then unite in the clefts to form the plantar metatarsal veins.
- Drains
- Drain the plantar skin and pads of the toes into both the superficial dorsal veins and the deep veins of the sole.
Anthromica
See the plantar digital veins where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
