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skin-changes-you-shouldnt-ignore

Skin Changes You Shouldn’t Ignore

when you're sitting in the hospital one of the first things doctors evaluate is your biggest organ skin here are 14 ways your skin actually tells me a lot about your health just remember changes to your skin may be a benign variant and there are always multiple diagnoses to consider that's why I included a list of potential other options called a differential right here on this clipboard if you're ever concerned or spot a new change though don't hesitate to seek professional medical advice if your skin has lots of bruising that happens really easily your blood may be having a problem with clotting that's because one of the most prominent signs of a condition known as hemophilia is easy breathability due to the fact that bleeding becomes harder to control [Music] if your skin has a cut that refuses to heal for a long time you may have skin cancer I'm not exaggerating here a non-healing wound on the face to me is skin cancer unless proven otherwise this is because the face heals so much faster than other parts of the body and it's one of the most that's exposed to the Sun [Music] if your skin has hair growth in unusual places as a woman you may have PCOS females having hair suddenly appear in areas like the upper lip chest and back can be a sign of excess testosterone often occurring with polycystic ovarian syndrome this is because androgenic hormones like testosterone can cause Peach fuss or vellus hair to develop into larger darker terminal hair [Music] if your skin has a bullseye shaped rash you might have been hiking recently especially in the northeast of the U.S that's because one of the most common but not all the time early presentations of Lyme disease comes with the erythema migrants rash Lyme disease is spread by these guys deer ticks so be sure to follow tips on how to best protect yourself if you have a red rash across your nose and face with light sensitivity you might have increased inflammation throughout your whole body from lupus that's because immune related changes in the skin causes to become extra sensitive and overreact to UV exposure from the Sun so the most Sun exposed regions like your nasal bridge and cheeks get affected the most and it's important to remember that lupus affects more than just your skin if you have darkening of the folds of your skin in the neck armpit or groin you may have diabetes acanthosis Niger Kansas when a hormonal disturbance usually insulin related causes an uptick of certain cells in the skin changing its appearance to become more thickened velvety and dark early onset of this should trigger a discussion with your doctor about certain blood tests if you have more than 50 moles on your skin you could have a higher risk of a type of skin cancer known as melanoma moles also known as beauty marks are brown pigmented spots that are a result of cells called melanocytes tightly gathering together into clusters most of them are quite harmless and are very common it's not that moles lead to cancer but instead a correlation that we have found to be true and we could use this correlation to help guide risk stratification and prevention if I squeeze your nail and the blanching or whitening does not resolve within two to three seconds you could be going into shock this is called the capillary refill test by squeezing the tip of the finger we're able to temporarily cut off blood supply and upon release we expect to see reperfusion of color from blood very quickly if this process takes longer than three seconds there's an issue with circulation why the nail bed well it's less impacted by melanin and therefore there's less variation across humans [Music] if your skin is very pale on your conjunctiva or Palms you may have a fast heart rate because you're anemic on areas where there's less variation from person to person we're able to see a decrease in that red Hue symbolizing that perhaps there's less oxygen carrying ability in the blood vessels this could be due to a problem with the red blood cells or perfusion issue like hypertension or blockages when your tissues aren't getting enough oxygen your heart tries to compensate for this by beating faster [Music] if your skin has a defined area of redness and scaling over your neckline or earlobes you might be wearing inexpensive jewelry contact dermatite is one of the most common skin conditions we see in Primary Care the interesting part about the diagnosis is that the condition is usually very localized to where the contact had occurred so the red patches have very unique shapes outlining the exact shape of that allergic cause nickel is actually one of the more common Metals causing this immune overreaction on the skin and it's commonly found in costume jewelry and belt buckles if your skin has yellow growths on or near the eyelids you may be consuming too many fatty animal products AKA high cholesterol xanthelasma is a benign Mass where cholesterol deposits build up onto the skin while the growth itself is not usually problematic it can represent a disorder of the management of fats and cholesterols in your body leading to other conditions like heart disease that's why in addition to addressing cosmetic concerns with these lesions we also routinely check blood lipid and other tests [Music] if your skin has one of these spider angiomas on your face neck or upper chest you may have a liver problem like cirrhosis interestingly enough these unique blood vessels occur in pregnancy as well as with liver disorders the exact mechanism for why and how they're formed is not even fully understood but the hormone estrogen in certain vascular growth factors have been implicated in initial research if your skin doesn't bounce back after being pinched you may need some water this is called The Skin turgor test and basically checks your Skin's resiliency after being manipulated if you are heavily heavily dehydrated then skin struggles to return to its normal position quickly however there's an important caveat here that this test needs to be thought about in context as someone over the age of 65 may have naturally less resilient skin simply due to age not dehydration if your skin is yellow you might be drinking too much alcohol jaundice is a well-known condition for causing this unique change the color change actually stems from bilirubin which is a yellow orange breakdown product of red blood cells it is normally processed by the liver to be passed into the digestive system as bile then it's excreted through urine and stool however if there's damage to the liver from alcohol the bilirubin can enter your bloodstream and therefore cause yellow skin discoloration so many people ask me if sparkling water is good for their health will I answer that question and more on this responding to comments video click here to check that out and as always stay happy and healthy

Dr.

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