Do Not Ignore Heart Attack Warnings That Include This Ear Symptom

This medical emergency happens in almost all parts of the globe. Some of those who suffered and survived from heart attacks report feeling some warning signs. Others said their heart attacks occurred without warning.

The most common heart attack symptoms include sweating profusely, feeling nauseous, having trouble breathing, feeling pain in the upper body, and having fatigue. This life-threatening medical condition may be avoided by identifying all of its symptoms and warning signs. For instance, there is a warning sign in your ear that could mean you are at risk.

A Sign In Your Ear

Try feeling your earlobe. Does it feel smooth, or do you feel a fold, crease, wrinkle, or straight line that seems to cut your earlobe in half? If you feel these types of creases or folds, it might mean you are at risk of suffering from a heart attack.

Almost fifty years ago, a physician named Sanders T. Frank sent a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, narrating what he noticed in many of his patients. The publication published his letter in the hope that it will bring awareness to many.

According to Dr. Frank, he noticed that 20 of his patients who were below 60 years old and had an earlobe crease were found to have coronary artery blockages. They also have several bouts with angina.

After Dr. Frank’s letter was published in 1973, many other doctors sent in their letters, too, saying that they also have observed such in their own patients. This prompted scientists to conduct a study on the possible relationship between earlobe creases and heart disease.

Between the 1970s and 1990s, several studies have reported that heart attacks were more common in persons who have earlobe creases compared to those who do not have these creases. There are even smaller studies which examined the predictive implication of an earlobe crease.

In one study involving 109 people, researchers said that patients with earlobe creases are more likely to experience cardiac events compared to those without them.

Scientists are still figuring out how heart disease and earlobe creases are related, but they are already formulating theories on the matter.

The Relationship of an Earlobe Crease with Heart Disease

Some scientists say that the deterioration of elastic tissues that surround small blood vessels carrying blood to the earlobes may have produced these earlobe creases. This is the same kind of change that occurs with blood vessels related to coronary heart disease.

This means that visible variations happening to ear’s small blood vessels may indicate the same changes which cannot be seen, such as those involving blood vessels around the heart. In a 2011 NYU School of Medicine review of such studies, researchers concluded that the existence of diagonal earlobe creases had been identified as a sign of coronary artery disease.

Succeeding studies also confirmed this type of crease as a coronary artery disease predictor. The NHS said that coronary heart disease is a major cause of heart attacks.