What Is A Hill-Salts Lesion?
A “Hill-Salt” (or “Hillsalt”) lesion is a type of blood vessel disorder which occurs when the abnormal growth of a blood vessel develops into a large diameter artery. These lesions are usually found in the legs or feet, but they may occur anywhere along the body. They often develop over time due to aging, smoking, high cholesterol levels, obesity and other factors. The condition is not contagious and there is no known cure.
The most common form of the disease is called “Hicks Saline Syndrome”. It affects 1 out of every 200,000 people. The second most common form is called “Banks Saline Syndrome”, where it affects one in 100,000 people.
Both forms have similar symptoms such as numbness, tingling or pain in the affected area. However, Banks Saline syndrome tends to affect the hands and feet more than Hicks Saline syndrome.
In both cases, the lesions can cause severe problems including:
Numbness and weakness in affected areas
Tingling or burning sensations in affected areas
Painful swelling of affected areas
Difficulty walking or standing up because of pain in your legs/feet/ankles/shins/feet etc.
Difficulty gripping objects and having overall weakness in the hands and arms
In more severe cases where the lesions are larger and more numerous, the skin may take on a greyish hue, and the patient may experience extreme fatigue due to anemia.
Hill-Sachs Face Syndrome
A rare genetic disease which affects 1 in every 300,000 newborn babies. It is known to run in families and seems to affect mostly males. There are three different types, or phenotypes.
The first affects the skin, hair and the face. The second affects the eyes, ears, and mouth, and the third seems to have no visible effect on the patient, other than a general lack of energy.
The first phenotype affects the skin of the patient as a rash or hives. The rash is often itchy and may burn or sting when touched. The rash is often red or purple in colour.
The hair of the patient may also be of a different colour than normal, and the texture may also be different. The inside of the mouth may bleed if the patient bites his or her tongue, and there may be small lumps on the roof of the mouth.
The second phenotype causes problems with the eyes, ears and nose of the patient. The eyes are often small and under-developed. The outer ears are often malformed and closed, and the middle ear may not fully develop.
The nostrils are often small or non-existent. The mouth, tongue and lips do not seem to be affected by this type.
The third phenotype has not yet been studied in detail, but patients often have low energy levels and a lack of physical activity. It is not yet known if this type causes any other problems for the patient.
Due to the rarity of this disease, no treatment has been developed, and it is likely that most doctors have never seen a patient with this disease. It should also be noted that some babies that are diagnosed with this disease do not survive past early infancy.
Other rare diseases
There are many other rare diseases that do not have as much of an impact on society as the five listed above. One such disease is cancer, which can be rare in some people and more common in others. Another is allergies to certain foods, plants, animals, etc.
There are also genetic diseases that only affect one particular part of the body, such as cysts, missing or extra bones or even missing or extra organs.
Unfortunately, there are many other diseases that we don’t yet have a name for, but are in fact still in existence. These ‘nameless’ diseases tend to only be found in certain parts of the world, or even certain parts of a city. The more isolated the area, the less likely a person is to come into contact with someone suffering from one of these diseases, and as such it can remain unknown to the rest of the world.
Despite the large amount of knowledge that the medical profession has accumulated over the years, there is still a lot that doctors and medical professionals do not know about the human body, how it works and what can cause it to malfunction. New diseases are discovered every year, and more often than not it can have a deadly effect on those who come in contact with it, before a cure can be found.
The next part of this book will discuss the different types of medical treatment that are available throughout the world.
Sources & references used in this article:
Evolving concept of bipolar bone loss and the Hill-Sachs lesion: from “engaging/non-engaging” lesion to “on-track/off-track” lesion by G Di Giacomo, E Itoi, SS Burkhart – … : The Journal of Arthroscopic & Related …, 2014 – Elsevier
The prevalence of a large Hill-Sachs lesion that needs to be treated by D Kurokawa, N Yamamoto, H Nagamoto… – Journal of shoulder and …, 2013 – Elsevier
Hill-Sachs “remplissage”: an arthroscopic solution for the engaging Hill-Sachs lesion by RJ Purchase, EM Wolf, ER Hobgood… – … : The Journal of …, 2008 – Elsevier
Arthroscopic Bankart repair combined with remplissage technique for the treatment of anterior shoulder instability with engaging Hill-Sachs lesion: a report of 49 cases … by YM Zhu, Y Lu, J Zhang, JW Shen… – The American journal …, 2011 – journals.sagepub.com
