Your liver is a large and powerful organ that performs a number of essential functions in the body. One of the most important jobs of the liver is to flush out and filter toxins from the blood.
Liver disease often refers to a condition where your liver gets damaged over time. Therefore, timely intervention, detection and treatment are important. In an Instagram video recently, Dr. Saurabh Sethi, MD, MPH, board-certified gastroenterologist, hepatologist and interventional endoscopist trained at AIIMS, Harvard and Stanford, listed 4 skin changes to look out for that could point out that you have a liver disease.
4 skin changes that indicate that you might have a liver disease
Jaundice:
The yellow colour of the skin and eyes that happens due to elevated bilirubin levels is a classic sign of liver disease as the liver is responsible for processing bilirubin.
Spider angiomas
Small dilated blood vessels that look like spider webs, typically occurring on the chest, neck and face. These are caused when one experiences higher estrogen levels, which can occur in the case of a liver disease.
Palmer erythema
Inflammation and redness of the palms which is often accompanied by swelling. This is due to increased blood flow and estrogen levels. This can also indicate liver dysfunction.
Itching without a clear cause
Often happening at night. This can be due to bile salts that build up in the skin which can occur in liver problems.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, chronic liver diseases usually progress in roughly 4 stages: hepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver failure. Approximately 1.8% of US adults (4.5 million adults) have liver disease. Globally as well it causes 2 million deaths per year and 4% of all deaths. Another fact is that liver diseases affect males twice as often as females.