Have you ever observed the various moles that grow on the surface of your body? They may appear black, or brown, or sometimes a small bright red mole, either congenital or acquired.
Among these moles, the former is called a pigmented nevus, and the latter is a cherry-like hemangioma, which is a normal physiological manifestation, neither a disease nor a possibility of cancer.
However, this does not mean that all nevi do not need to be vigilant, casually search the Internet about chronic liver disease, almost all mention a species called "spider nevi", which also appears on the surface of the body, but it is completely different from ordinary pigmented nevi.
So the question is, what is spider mole, and why is it related to liver disease?
First of all, the so-called spider mole is actually a capillary lesion on the surface of the body, these capillaries are extremely dilated on the surface of the body, forming red spots or plaques in the center.
Unlike cherry-like hemangiomas, spider nevi not only has a red center point, but also a large number of spider-like blood vessels radiating out around it, with different diameters and sizes, and the large ones can reach about 1.5 cm.
Spider annular nevi can be present in the body form or in multiple co-existing areas, and its most common areas are the neck and face.
In addition, spider moles may also grow on the trunk of the limbs and on the back of the chest. When you press the center point of the spider mole with your hand, you will find that the entire vascular mole is gone, but when the pressure is lifted, the blood will start to fill outward from the center.
The reason why spider annoid nevi is considered clinically as a symptom of the arrival of liver disease is because in many cases, its appearance is related to cirrhosis.
It should be known that the liver is not only a detoxification and metabolic organ, but also some hormones produced inside the human body will be decomposed and inactivated in the liver, including estrogen secreted by organs such as adrenal glands and ovaries.
After the appearance of cirrhosis, especially when cirrhosis enters the decompensated phase, liver function will decline rapidly. After the completion of the action, estrogen cannot be inactivated in the liver.
The adrenal glands, ovaries and other organs will continue to produce estrogen. These hormones accumulate and travel within the blood vessels, stimulating the extreme expansion of the capillaries on the surface of the body, and eventually forming a spider angioma.
However, we should pay attention to the fact that spider nevi is not necessarily a signal of the arrival of liver disease!
As mentioned above, spider angiomas are caused by high estrogen status, so nearly 10 to 15% of normal people may also have estrogen, such as pregnant women, people taking hormonal contraceptives, young women, etc.
Especially pregnant women are prone to appear, in the mainland clinical, nearly 30% of healthy pregnant women will have spider moles, they mostly occur suddenly in about 2-3 months of pregnancy, and will gradually increase, become larger, and in the pregnant women's smooth delivery of about 6 weeks, spider moles will disappear.
In addition, if you have rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, Cushing syndrome and other diseases for a long time, it may also lead to the appearance of spider moles. Therefore, if it is arbitrarily said that spider annular nevi is a 100% sign of liver disease, it is obviously incorrect.
However, if they originally have chronic liver disease, liver disease family history, long-term history of alcoholism, and suddenly there is a spider annoid, which may indeed be a sign of the arrival of liver disease or further aggravation of liver disease, patients should be vigilant, and timely seek medical treatment for relevant examinations, which include ultrasound, liver function screening, etc., so as not to have liver disease but do not know it.