Skin rashes, bumps or discolourations? Your skin may be trying to tell you something important about the state of your health. Listen up!
Leslie Doane was travelling in Guate- mala when she noticed her skin and eyes taking on a yellowish tinge.
“I remember looking in a mirror at the whites of my eyes and I thought, ‘That’s not right, that’s not normal. They look really yellow. Am I sick?’” recalls Doane. “I knew that was a sign of hepatitis, but I’d had the Havrix vaccine for Hep A.”
She visited a clinic and a blood test confirmed she’d contracted Hepatitis A, a highly contagious viral liver disease transmitted through ingestion of contaminated food or water, or exposure to people with the illness through close personal contact, such as caring for an infected friend. After a couple months of extreme fatigue and lots of rest, Doane’s energy levels rebounded, and her jaundice (the yellowing of skin and eyes) receded.
Jaundice is a common symptom of liver disease, but it’s not the only surface change that signals an internal health problem.
Our skin is more than just our covering. It is the body’s largest organ, and as such, is synergistically connected to other organs through our lymphatic, nervous and circulatory systems. Its size, visibility and accessibility often make it the first place that symptoms of internal disease show up
“There are so many skin manifestations of disease, whether you’re talking about liver disease, kidney disease, autoimmune disorders, endocrine disorders, malignancy. Almost every disease of organs has a skin symptom,” says Dr. Lynne Robertson, a dermatologist and clinical associate professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Dermatology, at the University of Calgary.
This story is from the February/March 2019 edition of Best Health.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February/March 2019 edition of Best Health.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
SORRY I'M NOT YOUR CLOWN TODAY
Bowen Yang's trip to Oz, by way of conversion therapy and S..N.L.”
JOY RIDE
Grant Petersen wants to preserve the craft, and delight, of cycling.
EYES WIDE SHUT
How Monet shared a private world.
HUGO HAMILTON AUTOBAHN
On the Autobahn outside Frankfurt. November. The fields were covered in a thin sheet of snow.
WITH THE MOSTEST
The very rich hours of Pamela Harriman.
THE FOOTBALL BRO
Pat McAfee brings a casual new style to ESPN.
OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY
Proximity to wealth proves perilous in Rumaan Alam’ novel Entitlement.”
LET'S HAVE A LONG TALK ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP JUST BEFORE BED!
Babe, are you nodding off? I know we’re both exhausted after a long day, a dinner party at which you made a three-word comment that left me feeling like you don’t know me at all, and the subsequent ninety-minute fight that culminated in a tentative truce.
SNIFF TEST
A maverick perfumer tries to make his mark on a storied fashion house.
TRY IT ON
How Law Roach reimagined red-carpet style.
MIRROR IMAGES
‘A Different Man” and The Substance.”
THE END OF JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE
One of America's greatest achievements could disappear overnight.
THE RADICAL CONVERSION OF MIKE LEE
IN 2016, HE TRIED TO STOP TRUMP FROM BECOMING PRESIDENT. BY 2020, HE WAS TRYING TO HELP TRUMP OVERTURN THE ELECTION. NOW HE COULD BECOME TRUMP'S ATTORNEY GENERAL.
You Think You're So Heterodox
Joe Rogan has turned Austin into a haven for manosphere influencers, just-asking-questions tech bros, and other \"free thinkers\" who happen to all think alike.
A Brief History of Yuval Noah Harari
How the scholar became Silicon Valley's favorite guru
Rachel Kushner's Surprising Swerve
She and her narrators have always relied on swagger-but not this time.
Men on Trips Eating Food
Why TV is full of late-career Hollywood guys at restaurants
Boat Fish Don't Count
The wild, obsessive, dangerous pursuit of Montauk's biggest striped bass
HYPOCRISY, SPINELESSNESS, AND THE TRIUMPH OF DONALD TRUMP
He said Republican politicians would be easy to break. He was right.
The Anti-Rock Star
Leonard Cohen's battle against shameless male egoism
MAPPING MISSISSIPPI'S VIOLENT PAST
I wanted to understand the forces that shaped my state's dark history. I ended up in Spain, holding an object I'd never known existed.
THE LOYALIST KASH PATEL WILL DO EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP WANTS.
A 40-year-old lawyer with little government experience, he joined the administration in 2019 and rose rapidly. Each new title set off new alarms.
What Abortion Bans Do to Doctors
In Idaho and other states, draconian laws are forcing physicians to ignore their training and put patients' lives at risk.
JAMES EARL JONES' DARTH VADER VOICE LIVES ON THROUGH AI.VOICE ACTORS SEE PROMISE AND PERIL IN THAT
Over the course of an acting career that spanned more than six decades, James Earl Jones' voice became an indelible piece of his work as a performer.
US POSTAL SERVICE SQUEEZE ON SHIPPING CONSOLIDATORS COULD RAISE CONSUMER COSTS
The U.S. Postal Service said this week that it is ending discounts that shipping consolidators such as UPS and DHL use to get packages to the nation’s doorsteps, in a move meant to help the Postal Service slow losses but that could see the higher costs passed on to consumers.
GOOGLE AND APPLE LOSE THEIR COURT FIGHTS AGAINST THE EU AND OWE BILLIONS IN FINES AND TAXES
Google lost its last bid to overturn a European Union antitrust penalty, after the bloc's top court ruled against it Tuesday in a case that came with a whopping fine and helped jumpstart an era of intensifying scrutiny for Big Tech companies.
GOOGLE'S AI MODEL FACES EUROPEAN UNION SCRUTINY FROM PRIVACY WATCHDOG
European Union regulators said Thursday they’re investigating one of Google’s artificial intelligence models over concerns about its compliance with the bloc’s strict data privacy rules.
US COMPANIES SEE RECORD-LOW PROFITS IN CHINA AMID GEOPOLITICAL TENSIONS AND SLOW GROWTH, REPORT SAYS
American companies in China are seeing record-low profits, with business confidence at an all-time low amid U.S.-China tensions and a slowing Chinese economy, according to a report published Thursday by a U.S. business group.
THE AI INDUSTRY USES A LIGHT LOBBYING TOUCH TO EDUCATE CONGRESS FROM A CORPORATE PERSPECTIVE
The artificial intelligence industry has gone on a lobbying binge in the past few years, deploying scores of hired influencers to help shape potential government action.
A CAPSULE HAS BEEN PROPELLED THROUGH A HYPERLOOP TEST TUBE IN A STEP FORWARD FOR THE TRANSIT SYSTEM
Hyperloop, a new form of mass transit involving capsules whizzing on magnetic fields through depressurized tubes, has achieved significant liftoff in the northern Netherlands, a company developing the technology said Monday.
