2 replies to this topic

[sgupta]

Hey all,

 

So I recently read about Frank's Sign (see http://hearinghealth...-heart-disease/ for a decent summary), which is the theory (largely backed by studies from what it seems, though a few do counter it; more seem on its side than not) that a vertical crease in the earlobe is strongly associated with coronary artery disease.

 

I'm a 33 y/o male who's been looking in the mirror trying to determine if I have any of this. 

 

For those in the know, if you're not sure, does that mean you don't?  Is it always a fairly *pronounced* crease that goes to the very edge of the ear (out to the outer extreme rounded fleshy part)? 

 

As I examine myself, depending on the angle and how the light plays, I see a bit of indent around that area, but from other angles it's hardly apparent, and it doesn't go to the outer edge of the ear.

 

 Thoughts appreciated. =)

[BobSeitz]

sgupta, in 1979, the year I turned 50, I had a heart disease scare when within a two-month interval, five members of our lab and five men on our street developed angina or had heart attacks. I looked in the mirror, and there it was!.. the coronary crease! I did what any red-blooded American male would do: I panicked! The crease went in a vertical line all the way across the fleshy part of my left earlobe from the top to the bottom. About that time, I noticed that Dad, who was 77 that year also had the same coronary crease, and I knew he wasn't having heart trouble. (Nobody on either side of our family had experienced heart attacks. They died of strokes in their nineties.) That was 35 years ago. The crease is still there. Meanwhile, my HDL numbers are running in the nineties, about equal to my LDL numbers. I don't want to tell you to ignore your earlobe crease, but that was my experience. (I should also mention that I made a radical change in my diet from a typical Western diet to a third-world kind of diet, with presumably-healthy fruits and vegetables, and a modest amount of fatty fish such as wild salmon and sardines. I also haunted our local medical library that summer of 1979 reading Circulation, Atherosclerosis, and particularly, the Journal of Clinical Nutrition searching out what was then known or suspected about methods of avoiding coronary artery disease.) 

[sgupta]

Thanks for the info and story, Bob!

 

My dad died in his early 50's of a heart attack (on a treadmill, no less), so I'm probably overly paranoid.  I did notice earlier at my mom's she (at 67) does have the crease quite prominently in both ears, but I'm hesitant to mention it to her as she is seeing a doctor, on aspirin therapy (per her doctor), and being treated for high cholesterol, etc., so I don't want to alarm her more than necessary (she freaks out like I do).

 

I definitely don't have the prominent crease she has or that I've seen in pictures; whether a slight indent about where it would start should be troubling, I don't know (and I can almost see one if I try, but I really feel like I'm trying too hard to see something that's not yet really there) - I suppose I can ask the doctor when I see her in a couple weeks - hopefully she's familiar with this phenomenon. 

 

But you're right.  Regardless, it's not something I can change; what I can do is try to live a healthy lifestyle.  In the last few months and years especially, I've been trying to eat healthier (I eat a little bit of everything but try to stick to mostly whole foods and stay away from too much processing where I can) and supplementing with some helpful things (garlic, fish oil, Q10, fruit and veggies both as supplement and the real thing, pomegranate juice since pomegranates seem particularly promising), moderating alcohol intake a bit, don't smoke (even cut out e-cigs), and am exercising regularly (usually the treadmill...hopefully history won't repeat itself).  I still need to lose a bit more weight and drop my blood pressure a tad (it's sometimes high, but I'm starting to think it has to do with anxiety when I take it more than being actually always high because it falls pretty nicely once I calm down). 

 

I also happen to have Gilbert's syndrome, which means elevated bilirubin, and as luck would have it, that's actually *inversely* associated with heart disease risk, so I may have a bit of extra fluke protection.  Plus, while my mom is fully Caucasian, my dad is actually East (Asian) Indian, so I'm not sure how relevant the crease is anyways given it's not supposed to be accurate in Asians...

 

Thanks again for the opinion and info, and glad you're living happily and healthily!