WARNING SIGNS
If you’re not on top form, there’s often a visible sign somewhere on your body. Here are a few that doctors look out for.
12 things your doctor can guess about your health just by looking at you
1 Sparse outer third of your eyebrow
If you have hair loss or thinning at the edge of the brow, you might have an underactive
thyroid (hypothyroidism), which means your thyroid gland isn’t producing enough thyroid hormones. This disappearing brow is also called the sign of Hertoghe, after the Belgian physician who pioneered thyroid research. Thyroid hormones run the metabolism of every cell in your body, which affects your heartbeat, your temperature and how you use energy from food. I’ll take your hand to see if it’s cold, and if it is, that’s another indication that your thyroid isn’t working properly. I’ll note whether you have a puffy face and
puffy eyes. And I’ll ask about your symptoms – do you feel the cold, are you tired in the mornings, are you finding you can’t lose weight? Are you a bit constipated? Is your skin dry? Is your hair thinning? That all fits in with an underactive thyroid. Left untreated, this can lead to heart disease, possibly impaired cognitive function and, according to new research from the Endocrine Society, raised risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Dr Ali Ajam
2 The whites of your eyes are yellow
That means you’ve got jaundice – and that’s a sign of liver, gallbladder or pancreatic dysfunction, or problems with the breakdown of red blood cells. If your pee has become like black tea, which is due to the presence of bile products, you could have liver disease. You’ve likely got hepatitis, perhaps alcoholic hepatitis or – if it’s really far gone – cirrhosis. Dr Ali Ajam
3 Beefy red tongue
Stick out your tongue. Is it sore and red? Or does it look like a map with dark ‘islands’ and light ‘seas’? I diagnosed this in myself when I was pregnant! This is a sign of a lack of vitamin B12. It can also cause tingling in your feet. If you have trouble absorbing B12 through your stomach or small intestine, which may be the case if it is low (this will show in a blood test, which you should have), you can have injections to improve it. See a doctor again to find out why it is low. Dr Sarah Rayne
4 A crease in the earlobe
Frank’s sign is a very good indicator of heart disease. I have it, and I’ve got a stent in my heart. It’s not a wellrecognised sign – I heard about it only after I needed the stent. The crease may show loss of elasticity in the dermal layer of the skin and the blood vessels. Next time you see a photo of Steven Spielberg, look for it on his lobe. Dr Ali Ajam
5 Cracks at the corners of your mouth
One name for this is angular stomatitis, but it has several different names – probably because it’s one of the most common types of lip infections. The causes? Dry chapped lips, drooling, bacteria, thrush or a cold sore. And licking your lips just aggravates it. If you have oral thrush, you wear dentures, have sensitive skin, your immunity is low or you don’t eat healthily, you’re more prone to it. And if you rule out the infective causes, you’re probably deficient in nutrients like iron, zinc and vitamin B. Dr Matete Mathobela
6 Square jaw
Do you involuntarily grind your teeth and clench your jaws (the term for this action is bruxism), usually while you’re sleeping? That’s why your jaw is square – your masseter muscle has developed excessively. Your teeth might even be ground down from that, and it can cause headaches. If you’re a bruxer, you may snore or have sleep apnoea (pauses in breathing). The causes aren’t well understood yet, but there are several possibilities, including psychological factors like stress, anxiety, anger or frustration. If a dentist determines that this is the cause, you’ll be referred to the appropriate therapist. A mouth guard won’t prevent bruxism, but it will prevent the teeth in your upper and lower jaws from damaging one another. Dr Ali Ajam
7 Red, swollen gums
That, and longer teeth or teeth that have drifted recently might be signs of gum disease ( periodontitis). Many studies have shown that there may be a relationship between gum disease and cardiovascular problems. Periodontal disease contributes to chronic inflammation. Periodontitis is common but preventable – you’ll reduce the chances of developing this by brushing twice a day, and seeing your dentist regularly. Dr Wilhelm Ritz
Left untreated, an underactive thyroid can lead to heart
disease, possibly impaired cognitive function…
8 Itchy nipples with some discharge
Bet you’re a smoker! Duct ectasia is an increase in the size of the milk duct in the breast, which increases irritation of the duct, causing itching, pain and infection. You’re three times more likely to get it if you’ve been smoking for more than a year. Dr Sarah Rayne
9 More than 11 moles on your right arm
Someone with more than 100 moles on their body has an increased risk of developing melanoma, but it’s hard to count them yourself, and too time-consuming for a standard doctor’s appointment. The risk is thought to increase by two to four percent per naevus (mole). To find a quicker way of assessing risk, researchers at King’s College London tried counting the moles on the right arm to see if this was also linked with increased risk of melanoma. In the women they studied, they found that those with more than 11 moles on the right arm were likely to have over 100 all over. There’s no particular significance to it being the right arm, and this isn’t conclusive – it’s just a useful guide. If this does describe you, you know you need to take extra care to avoid overexposure to the sun. Dr Matete Mathobela
10 New change to the direction of your nipple
Most of us have two nipples, which helps us to notice if one changes shape in comparison to the other! A newly inverted nipple or a change in the direction it points can be an early subtle sign of breast cancer, and means you should have your breasts checked by a specialist, with an examination and ultrasound or mammogram as well.
Dr Sarah Rayne
11 Wide waistline
If there’s fat accumulation around your waist, I’d consider the possibility of metabolic syndrome if you have one or more of these symptoms: insulin resistance – moderately high fasting blood sugar or long-standing and higher levels of fasting blood sugar with impaired glucose tolerance – which is diabetes; high blood pressure; high cholesterol – especially LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, and low HDL (‘good’) cholesterol. Over 200 million people globally have been diagnosed with this health challenge. I’d ask you these questions: Has your waist circumference been increasing year on year, even if only as a muffin top? Are you tired, nauseous or dizzy, or extremely thirsty and need to urinate after sugar-rich meals or after eating puddings, sweets, cakes or chocolates? Do you experience extreme hunger or cravings for sweet stuff? Have you been very stressed for a long time? Do you have achy or painful muscles or joints? Do you know if your blood pressure – especially the systolic (above the line) but also diastolic (below the line) – measurement has increased? The problem with diabetes is that it seldom has overt signs and symptoms until it has reached an advanced stage when there is end organ damage already – like kidney failure, sores that don’t heal, chronic candida infection, gangrene (in very advanced diabetes), eye damage or hyperglycaemic coma. Because diabetes is often a silent disease, it’s important to go for regular health screenings (at least annually), which includes a physical exam with your medical history and body composition analysis, but also blood screening with at least fasting glucose, fasting insulin, thyroid function, CRP (C-reactive protein to assess inflammation), HbA1c (to assess how long glucose levels have been increased) and lipid profile. Dr Arien van der Merwe (www.drarien.co.za), author of Managing Diabetes and Related Health Challenges (Human & Rousseau)
12 Indented spoonshaped fingernails
This might mean you have iron deficiency anaemia – you don’t have enough iron and, as a result, fewer red blood cells. It’s not a very common symptom, though – if you’re anaemic, you’re far more likely to be pale, lethargic, short of breath or experience heart palpitations. The medical term for indented nails is koilonychia.
Dr Matete Mathobela