You may think the symptoms of Crohn’s disease were fairly obvious.
However, a gastroenterologist has now revealed there is a little known sign that many people may be unaware of.
Swollen lips could highlight the agonising bowel condition, says Dr Rishi Goel, a consultant at Kingston Hospital, London.
The chronic condition behind swollen lips, known as orofacial granulomatosis (OFG), is an inflammatory disorder that often presents on its own.
NHS Choices, the website designed to give the British public information, doesn’t list the condition as a sign of Crohn’s disease.
You may think the symptoms of Crohn’s disease were fairly obvious. But a gastroenterologist has now revealed there is a little known sign that many people may be unaware of
Dr Goel, a member of the British Society of Gastroenterology, told MailOnline: ‘OFG is a chronic inflammatory condition which can flare up intermittently.
‘Interestingly, it can overlap with Crohn’s disease, which is a chronic inflammatory condition of the gut and carries a 75 per cent lifetime risk for surgery.’
Dr Goel has delved into the evidence behind Crohn’s disease and OFG over the past decade to examine if there is a link.
For decades researchers have suggested an association between the two, however many experts have disputed the claims. This is believed to be why the NHS doesn’t list it as a symptom.
Research carried out by Dr Goel and colleagues has shown interesting clinical patterns between them both.
Crohn’s disease, a major form of inflammatory bowel disease, still remains at the forefront of scientific investigations in recent years.
The incurable digestive condition that blights the lives of 115,000 people in Britain and as many as 1.6 million in the US.
Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhoea and potentially dangerous weight loss. Magician Dynamo is a famous sufferer.
Evidence shows Crohn’s disease, which can cause symptoms including diarrhoea, stomach cramps and weight loss, can drive some to suicide.
And eight out of ten patients will eventually need part of their intestine removed because it becomes so damaged it prevents digestion.
The medical community is baffled as to what the precise cause of the condition is – and believe it could be down to a combination of factors.
However, various trials in the past few years have offered hope of a potential cure for Crohn’s disease – but none have worked.
Conventional treatment is with drugs that suppress the immune system’s production of a protein called TNF, which causes inflammation.