A New Study Links This Eye Symptom to Heart Attack and Stroke Risk

Sometimes, our bodies leave little clues that are as easy to brush off as our makeup.

One of them may show up right around the eyes.

Small yellowish patches on the eyelids, known as xanthelasma, are deposits of cholesterol and other fats beneath the skin.

Usually, they're harmless on their own. 

But, a new study says they may deserve a little more attention than we’ve been giving them.

A Hidden Heart Attack Warning Sign on Your Face

So, what is xanthelasma as a symptom?

It usually appears as a flat or slightly raised yellow patch near the eyelids, often close to the nose.

According to Cleveland Clinic, these patches are made from cholesterol deposits under the skin.

That explains why yellow patches around the eyes can be tied to cholesterol.

But, here's where things get interesting.

Not everyone with xanthelasma has high cholesterol. 

Cleveland Clinic says that roughly half of the people with the condition do, while the other half don't.

That means those little yellow patches may be telling us something, even when a routine cholesterol test doesn't raise an obvious red flag.

Researchers Looked at Nearly 18,000 People

In the new xanthelasma cardiovascular risk study, researchers used health records from a large international database.

They identified 17,925 adults with xanthelasma and compared them with a similar group who didn't have it.

Then, they matched the groups with things like age, sex, cholesterol levels, smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, and weight.

After all that, they looked at how often people in each group had a heart attack, a stroke, or a transient ischemic attack (TIA), sometimes called a mini-stroke.

The results were striking.

Within a year, 1% of the people with xanthelasma had a heart attack, compared with 0.35% of those without it.

That means the xanthelasma heart attack risk was nearly three times higher in the study group.

The Stroke Numbers Told a Similar Story

The same pattern showed up when researchers looked at strokes.

After a year, about 0.95% of people with xanthelasma had a stroke, compared with 0.30% of those without the condition.

The xanthelasma stroke risk study also discovered that the difference didn't disappear with time.

After 10 years, stroke rates were 3% among people with xanthelasma and 1.53% among those without it. 

Heart attack rates were also higher, at 3.13% compared with 1.73%.

That Doesn't Mean the Patches Cause Heart Disease

This is the important part.

The study found a connection. It didn’t prove that xanthelasma causes heart attacks or strokes.

Those yellow patches may simply be a visible clue that something else is going on beneath the surface.

Interestingly, the researchers found similar rates of heart attacks and strokes in people with xanthelasma, whether or not they’d been diagnosed with abnormal cholesterol levels.

That's one reason these little patches could someday become one of the heart disease warning signs we notice on the face, rather than something dismissed as purely cosmetic.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology already recommends talking with a doctor if yellowish cholesterol deposits appear around the eyes.

Your Mirror Isn't a Heart Test

We don’t need to panic over a yellow patch near the eyelid.

Xanthelasma itself is harmless, and plenty of people who have it will never have a heart attack or stroke.

But, this new research suggests it may be worth mentioning it the next time you're at the doctor.

Sometimes, the face looking back at us in the mirror may be offering a little more information than we realized.

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