These 8 changes in the body may be signs of a serious illness!

Some changes in your body characteristics are easy to be ignored. However, some changes may be a sign of a serious illness, so you must pay attention to them!

Thick neck

Wei Qiong, deputy chief physician of the Endocrinology Department of Zhongda Hospital affiliated to Southeast University, pointed out that a thicker neck means a greater possibility of abnormal blood lipids and a higher risk of heart disease. This means that there are more fatty liver deposits under the skin of the neck or around the respiratory tract, and the obesity problem is obvious, which triggers a warning of metabolic syndrome.

Waist thickening

A research analysis involving 410,000 people published in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology by researchers including Lyu Yun and Tian Yuan from the School of Public Health of Peking University found that the thicker the waist, the higher the risk of coronary heart disease, acute coronary heart disease events, and death from coronary heart disease.

Dark neck

Ran Yuping, chief physician of the Dermatology and Venereology Department of West China Hospital of Sichuan University, said that the skin not only reflects the health of the body, but sometimes also indicates some serious diseases such as malignant tumors. For example, digestive tract tumors can cause abnormal proliferation and keratinization of skin keratinocytes, accompanied by pigmentation.

Therefore, if very obvious "velvet-like" or "tripe-like" black villous lesions appear on the palms of both hands, you should go to the hospital immediately to take samples of the lesions for pathological examination, draw blood for tumor-related markers, and perform gastrointestinal endoscopy and chest X-ray examinations to confirm whether there are potential tumors in the digestive tract. Please follow the doctor's advice and seek medical treatment as soon as possible.

Faster heart rate

The speed of the heartbeat is closely related to life expectancy. Sun Ningling, chief physician of the Department of Cardiology at Peking University People's Hospital, said that long-term fast heart rate can cause insulin resistance, which in turn leads to increased blood pressure and blood sugar; tachycardia increases the work of the heart, increases the pressure on large blood vessels, and can also lead to worsening of atherosclerosis.

Have spider nevi

Pan Zhanhe, deputy chief physician of the Department of Oncology at Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated to Xiamen University, pointed out that spider nevus is an idiopathic telangiectasia. There are small blood vessels radiating around the center of the nevus, which looks like a spider, hence the name "spider nevus."

Spider nevi often occur on the neck, face, upper chest, shoulders, etc., and are more common in patients with acute hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, etc. These diseases can cause liver damage, thereby reducing the liver's inactivation of estrogen and increasing the estrogen level in the blood, thus causing spider nevi.

Clubbing of fingers

Li Zhong, chief physician of the Department of Hematology and Oncology at the Dongzhimen Hospital of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, pointed out that clubbing is characterized by hyperplasia, hypertrophy, and club-like enlargement of the tips of fingers or toes. Its characteristics are that the terminal phalanges (toes) are significantly widened and thickened, and the nails (toes) are arched from the root to the tip, so that the base angle formed by the skin on the back of the finger (toe) and the nail is equal to or greater than 180°. Among lung diseases, clubbing is most common in lung tumors and chronic septic diseases, and intrapulmonary shunts can also cause clubbing.

Image source: Wikipedia

In the early stages of lung cancer, some patients have no symptoms, some have occasional coughs and shortness of breath, and a considerable number of patients' fingertips become thick and full, clubbed, which is one of the signs of lung cancer. In addition, the occurrence of clubbing may also be related to respiratory diseases such as emphysema, tuberculosis, and bronchiectasis.

Oral leukoplakia

Ma Jingyuan, deputy chief physician of the Department of Stomatology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, said that oral leukoplakia is a common oral mucosal disease that can occur anywhere in the oral cavity. It manifests as white or grayish white lesions that protrude from the mucosal surface and cannot be wiped off by hand. Generally, there is no feeling or it feels a little rough. It feels soft but harder than the surrounding mucosa. In simple terms, it is like a piece of white stuff stuck on the oral mucosa that cannot be picked off.

Oral leukoplakia is a type of precancerous lesion, with a malignant probability of about 0.13% to 17.5%. If you suspect you have oral leukoplakia, you should seek medical attention immediately.

Enlarged mole

Pan Zhanhe, deputy chief physician of the Department of Oncology at Xiamen University Zhongshan Hospital, reminds that if a black mole suddenly grows larger, or its edges become irregular, or its color changes, or it breaks and bleeds, or it starts to burn, itch and hurt, or the original hair on the mole falls off, you should suspect the possibility of melanoma.

Source: Health Times

Review: Li Nannan Director of Hunan Science Writers Association Deputy Director of Research and Publicity Department of Hunan Science and Technology Association Second-level Researcher Chinese Science Writer (Medical)

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