Lao Li has always loved to drink, and quit smoking when he was young, but he can't let go of this wine, and he drinks a few glasses almost every day. Recently, however, he noticed that many red moles suddenly appeared on his body, which were radial, with a small red dot in the center, surrounded by many tiny branches of blood vessels that looked like spider webs. Lao Li didn't think there was any problem, but later he also had nausea, inability to eat, fatigue and other discomforts, so he went to the hospital, and after a check-up, alcoholic cirrhosis was detected, and the aminotransferases were more than 200. The doctor said that the red mole on his body was a typical spider nevus.
What are spider angiomas?
Spider nevi, also known as "spider telangiectasia", is a vascular nevus formed by the expansion of the ends of the branches of small arteries in the skin. It usually appears in areas with thin skin, such as the face, neck, and chest, and appears as a small red dot in the center surrounded by many tiny branches of blood vessels, like spider webs.
One of the distinguishing features of spider angiomata is the compression response: if the center point of the spider nevus is compressed, the vascular branches around it disappear immediately, and when the compression stops, the vascular branches reappear. This is because the vascular branches of spider angiomas radiate outward from the central point, and when the central point is compressed, blood cannot flow to these branches, causing them to disappear temporarily.
What is the relationship between spider angiomas and alcohol consumption?
The appearance of spider angiomatas is associated with a variety of factors, one of which is long-term heavy alcohol consumption.
Long-term alcohol consumption can cause liver damage, which reduces the liver's ability to inactivate estrogen. Elevated estrogen levels can stimulate the dilation of blood vessels in the skin, resulting in the formation of spider angiomata. Therefore, the appearance of spider angiomatas is often one of the signals of liver disease. When spider nevi appear on the body, we should be vigilant about liver health and get checked and treated in time.
In addition to liver damage caused by long-term alcohol consumption, the appearance of spider angiomata may also be related to hormone secretion changes, genetic factors, environmental factors, etc. For example, spider angiomas may occur in women during pregnancy or menopause due to changes in estrogen levels. In addition, long-term exposure to sunlight, the use of certain medications or cosmetics, etc., can also induce spider angiomata.
In addition to spider angiomas, these symptoms are all indicative of liver damage!
1. Digestive symptoms: such as loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, greasy, bloating, diarrhea, etc.
2. Fatigue and fatigue: It is easy to feel tired, and it is difficult to recover even after resting.
3. Pain in the liver area: there may be dull pain, swelling pain or tingling pain in the liver area of the right upper abdomen.
4. Skin abnormalities: In addition to spider angiomas, there may also be "palmar erythema", which is also due to the weakening of the liver's inactivation of estrogen, resulting in estrogen accumulation and vascular dilation, resulting in abnormal redness at the thenar muscle of the palm.
5. Jaundice: yellow staining of the skin and sclera, dark yellow urine color.
6. Bleeding tendency: bleeding gums, nosebleeds, skin ecchymosis, etc., which are related to the decline of the function of the liver to synthesize coagulation factors.
How can long-term drinkers protect their livers?
Once again, we remind everyone that the damage to the liver from drinking alcohol is gradual, and it seems to be no problem in the short term, but it will cause liver disease over time, from fatty liver, hepatitis, to liver cirrhosis, and even liver cancer, which is a progressive process. If you want to protect your liver, the best way is to quit drinking as soon as possible, and if you really can't quit, you need to pay attention to the following points.
1. Avoid drinking alcohol on an empty stomach: Drinking alcohol on an empty stomach will accelerate the absorption and metabolism of alcohol, causing a greater burden on the liver. Therefore, we should eat some foods to cushion our stomachs before drinking, such as staple foods, fruits, etc., to help slow down the absorption of alcohol.
2. Choose low-alcohol alcohol: Different types of alcoholic beverages have different degrees of damage to the liver. Generally speaking, low-alcohol alcohol is less damaging to the liver, so we should try to choose low-alcohol alcohol to drink and avoid mixing different alcoholic beverages.
3. Drink more water when drinking: Drinking more water can accelerate the metabolism and excretion of alcohol and reduce the burden on the liver. Therefore, when drinking, we should drink plenty of water to maintain the water balance of our body, and at the same time we should drink while eating, not just know how to drink.
4. Regular physical examination: Regular physical examination can detect liver diseases and other health problems in time. For long-term drinkers, it is even more important to have regular liver tests and other related tests to ensure good health.