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Earlobe Creases to Predict Heart Trouble

Nov 11, 2018

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There's a common belief that you can actually use the appearance of earlobes to judge whether or not someone has, or may someday have, heart complications. Is this true or just an old wive's tale? 

Actually, this belief started just a few decades ago by an actual physician.

In 1973, a doctor by the name of Sanders T. Frank published a letter in the New England Journal of Medicine about the possible associations between heart disease and a crease in one's earlobe. He noted that many of his patients with earlobe creases also had coronary artery blockages, chest pain, and other signs of cardiology problems. Since his first study, many other cardiology specialists have gone on to find not just a trend, but a correlation between the two. However, other physicians don't feel that there's a substantial study on this issue, and chose not to associate an earlobe crease with heart trouble. Many specialists of cardiology in Long Island, NY, and across the world, prefer to use other indicators like blood pressure to predict heart trouble.

Many cardiology centers have raised significant questions about the association between earlobe creases and threats to heart health. For instance, does any prior data actually support the need to use earlobe creases to diagnose one's heart health? Many cardiologists are unhappy with the lack of an explanation for this, and therefore choose not to rely on the mere possibility that those with creased earlobes have heart trouble.

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However, studies have gone on to reinforce, time and time again, the fact that patients with earlobe creases are likely to have heart trouble, even though there is still no clear explanation. Some scientists feel that earlobe creases are more commonly associated with old age, and senior citizens are far more likely than their younger peers to have heart trouble. Also, earlobe creases have also been associated with other risk factors, including obesity and diabetes, both of which can contribute to poor heart health. Overall, there is no clear scientific explanation as to why earlobe creases are correlated with poor health health, but the fact is that many patients who have one also have the other. There have been some theories that the types of arteries feeding the heart and earlobe are similar, but still, these theories aren't conclusive.

If you find an earlobe crease on your own ears, you can certainly visit a cardiology center to have your heart health gauged. Cardiology services welcome those who simply want to have their health inspected. However, depending on your insurance, you may have to see a primary care doctor--or family doctor--first, who can then refer you to a specialist. The best physicians specializing in cardiology in Long Island, NY, like the team at Peconic Bay Medical Center, can conduct a CT score, stress test, angiogram, and other tests that can show, more conclusively than the appearance of your earlobes, just how healthy your heart may be.