text: what are the causes & effects of poor circulation?   poor circulation is due to a number of things.  what really happens is that your blood vessels loose the ability constrict and dilate when needed.  what happens then is that the very tiny vessels loose the ability to feed all of the cells of the body lending to the deterioration of the cells.  causes can be a hardening of the vessels which can be a plaque build up on the inside of the vessels.  the end result of poor circulation is that affected area will die or need to be amputated.  there are very few medications to help.  one that comes to mind is trental (pentoxptyline).  diseases like diabetes does cause atherosclerosis- poor circulation.  smoking also is very debilitating to the blood vessels as nicotine is a vasoconstrictor.  there is very little you can do for poor circulation.  be very mindful of wounds in the affected areas as they may not heal and the attention of the docotor will be needed.