Chronic disease appearance

Chronic disease appearance is not an exclusive sign of a specific disease, but a common external manifestation of various long-term chronic wasting diseases on the human face. It is essentially the facial explicit feedback caused by the body's long-term metabolic disorder, damaged organ function, and poor nutritional status. The most typical characteristics are dull or pale complexion, dry and rough skin, tired and unfocused eyes, and it is difficult to present a healthy mental state even if you get adequate rest.

Last month, I met Mr. Chen, who has been suffering from COPD for 12 years, during a follow-up consultation in the respiratory department. I glanced at his face without opening the medical record and guessed exactly what was going on: the dark brown pigmentation on the cheekbones was quickly forming flakes, and the lips were swollen. The lines around his eyes are at least three times darker than those of an old man of the same age. As soon as he sat down, he had to hold on to the edge of the table and gasp for breath. It took him a long time to raise his eyelids.

The current general clinical consensus is that the core causes of chronic disease are divided into two categories. One is insufficient blood oxygen supply caused by long-term hypoxia. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congenital heart disease, and chronic heart failure have blood oxygen saturation lower than normal all year round, hemoglobin's oxygen-carrying capacity decreases, and the blood color is darker. This is reflected in the face being gray and blue all year round, and the lips and nail beds turning purple.； The other type is long-term consumption that exceeds intake, such as malignant tumors, diabetes with poor blood sugar control, chronic kidney disease, liver cirrhosis and other diseases. Either the body is in a state of high consumption, or there is a problem with nutrient absorption and metabolism. Subcutaneous fat is slowly lost, and the collagen synthesis rate cannot keep up with the loss rate. The face will naturally slump, and even the skin's gloss will be severely reduced.

However, in the past two years, many scholars in the field of psychosomatic medicine have put forward different opinions. They found that nearly 30% of patients with typical chronic disease appearance actually have quite stable physiological indicators. The core cause of the disease appearance is the emotional problems caused by long-term pain and suffering-perennial If anxiety, depression, and painful emotions are not relieved, people will subconsciously remain in a state of frowning, drooping the corners of the mouth, and relaxing facial muscles. Over time, even if the physical indicators are normal, they will form a tired, listless, and "sick" state. To put it bluntly, it is a "sick appearance caused by worry." I met an aunt in a general clinic before. Her rheumatoid arthritis was well controlled and all indicators were normal. However, her face always looked like she hadn't slept enough. After careful questioning, I found out that she was worried about her illness at home every day and was reluctant to leave the house. Later, she was transferred to the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine for two months of psychological intervention. When she came back for follow-up, her whole body was brighter by more than one degree, and her previous illness could not be seen at all.

It's quite interesting to say that many young people nowadays always say that they have "chronic disease appearance" even though they have no diagnosed chronic diseases. In fact, this is mostly a temporary state caused by long-term sub-health. When I was working on a provincial project last year, I stayed up for three weeks, sleeping three or four hours a day. After I finished rushing, I went to take a photo for my work ID. I was shocked when the photos came out: my face was sallow, and the black and blue under my eyes were almost catching up with those of a panda. Even the corners of my mouth were drooping. The first thing my mother said when she saw the photo was that I had secretly contracted some illness. She went for a physical examination and found nothing wrong. Then I rested for half a month, went to bed early and got up early every day, and went to the park for a half-hour walk. I didn’t use any expensive skin care products, and my face became brighter on its own.

In fact, our clinical practice never regards "chronic disease appearance" as the basis for diagnosing a disease, but more as an early warning signal - if you feel that your face is dull and lackluster for more than half a month, and you can't get better after eight hours of sleep, don't rush to spend money on whitening essences and anti-aging creams on your face. First, go for a basic physical examination to check basic indicators such as blood sugar, thyroid function, and cardiopulmonary function. If there is a small problem, early intervention is much more useful than applying ten boxes of facial masks. If there are no organic problems after a round of checks, then don’t scare yourself, stay up less meaningless nights, go out to bask in the sun and take a few more steps, don’t frown in front of the computer all day, raise the corners of your mouth and smile when you have nothing to do, it will be more effective than any beauty device worth thousands of dollars.

In fact, to put it bluntly, your face is the most honest living sign of your body. The late nights you stay up, the stress you bear, and the minor problems you ignore will all be clearly written on your face sooner or later. Don’t wait for those marks to become a chronic disease that cannot be eliminated before you think about repairing the holes. It is really not worth it.