Xanthelasma
Xanthelasma as a disease got its name from the Greek words “xanthos” – golden-yellow and “elasma” – plate or plate.
The clinical condition mainly affects people in old age and mostly women.
Some authors believe that the disease can be considered as a marker of severe atherosclerosis and an increased risk of developing myocardial cancer.
What are the symptoms?
The disease presents as a slightly protruding yellowish plaque above the upper eyelid. It is painless on palpation and has a soft consistency.
Usually the plaque appears on both eyelids and can be single or multiple. In the latter case, xanthelasma can merge, forming uneven formations.
The disease is characterized by a sudden, without preceding change in the appearance of the skin of the eyelid, appearance.
Its development is gradual and slow enough without causing the patient subjective sensations.
Education can range in size from a small pea to a large bean.
But it never transforms into a malignant entity and does not pose a threat to the human body.
However, large and multiple xanthelasmas, despite their harmlessness from a medical point of view, represent a serious cosmetic problem.
If xanthelasma is a manifestation of xanthomatosis, they often affect the lower eyelid, where xanthomas form.
In this case, they are also localized on other parts of the skin: the face, neck, knees, elbows. Their appearance on the mucous membranes of the soft and hard palate and on the lips is possible.
The emerging xanthomas and xanthelasmas remain throughout life. Gradually they become larger in size and their quantity increases.
Their appearance in young children may be a sign of hereditary hypercholesterolemic xanthomatosis, which then manifests itself with disorders of the cardiovascular system and the liver, and they may be accompanied by the formation of bone cysts.
What are the causes?
The exact cause of the clinical condition is not known.
Xanthomatosis of the skin develops against the background of disturbed fat exchange in the body and is a local fat deposit in the papillary layer of the dermis.
Although the formations are practically indistinguishable from xanthomas in terms of their structure, and in their isolated appearance, no significant lipid disorders are detected in most cases.
Xanthelasma and xanthomas are often observed in patients with obesity, diabetes, myxedema, lipoid neurosis, pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, high cholesterol with low blood density.
The disease can be hereditary. In such cases, a genetically determined disorder of lipid metabolism develops, which manifests itself in the first year of life.
Xanthelasma treatment
There is no specific treatment for the disease. When it occurs against the background of another clinical condition, which may be the cause of disorders of lipid metabolism.
In such a case, treatment of the causative disease is necessary. According to the indications, insulin and thyroidin can be prescribed.
Patients in whom a violation of the lipid composition of the blood or an increase in cholesterol are found should follow a diet that includes foods with a low fat content.
Animal fats should be replaced with vegetable ones, such as sunflower oil or olive oil.
The intake of lipotropic preparations and drugs that lower the levels of low-density cholesterol in the blood are also prescribed.
Birch buds, dandelion root, rose hip, plantain juice and immortelle flowers have a lipotropic effect.
