Xantelasmas are subcutaneous yellowish deposits, that throughout life in certain people, accumulate in the upper and / or lower eyelids.
In medicine, it´s well known that there are several risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease, and the most important are known as metabolic syndrome.This syndrome is composed as follows. Hypercholesterolemia or high accumulation of cholesterol in blood; high blood pressure, and diabetes or excess blood sugar.
We always recommend our patients to control all these factors and, moderate physical activity, also suppress smoking and the reduction of overweight to avoid a myocardial infarction, angina, or even an STROKE.
The British Journal of Ophthalmology has published a study in which they observed a higher incidence of all these health problems in patients who had Xanthelasmas.
After examining patients in this study, many of these did not present accumulation of cholesterol or high triglycerides in blood, although they had accumulation of fat under the eyelids skin. However, they are more predisposed to accumulate cholesterol plaques in the walls of the arteries, therefore it is recommended to treat cholesterol in these patients although their blood levels are not high.
Another pathology caused by the accumulation of cholesterol crystals concentrically in the cornea, exists in ophthalmology. It is characterized by a whitish peripheral corneal ring that can be seen at a glance, and its name is Gerontox. In this case, no scientific evidence of a higher incidence of cardiovascular problems has been observed, therefore, if cholesterol is not elevated, it does not need treatment.
The exeresis of Xhantelasmas by surgery is usually the thecnique used to solve them,and sometimes,if it is in the upper eyelid can be asociated to blepharoplasty.In the lower eyelids should be more conservative to avoid retractions after surgery. Blepharoplasty.What is it and What is it for
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