Have you recently observed some small reddish or brownish coloured spots on your legs and wondered what these are?  The reason for that might shock you!!

Being a part of our digestive system, the liver is an important organ in us. It is known that the liver produces bile which is a yellowish green coloured liquid that goes into our small intestines and helps in digestion of food. Liver also plays a role in the excretion of bilirubin, cholesterol etc plus in the fat and protein metabolism also. It is highly essential that we must have good liver health.

Not many would know that when the liver gets damaged then the first sign would be shown in the feet. Bitter fact is that some minor changes in the feet (due to wearing poor quality shoes or due to long hours of standing etc) might actually be due to damaged liver.

Various poor or damaged liver signs seen in the legs are

Presence of spider veins on ankles and feet:

On the feet and ankles in some persons, there would be spider veins or tiny web-typed blood vessels just beneath the skin surface. Truth is that in liver cirrhosis estrogen metabolism gets disrupted and blood vessels would get dilated due to hormonal imbalance. This would make spider veins appear to indicate liver malfunction.

Presence of reddish or brownish dots on lower legs:

It is worthy to note that the presence of red or brown coloured dots would be due to liver damage and not bug bites mark etc. There are also possibilities of blood leakage under skin. Point is that poor liver functioning would affect the clotting ability of the blood leading to small capillaries bursting easily.

Cracked heels:

Sign of dryness or poor foot care could result in cracked heels. Not many of us would know the fact that liver damage could affect our body`s ability to absorb fat soluble vitamins like A,D, E and K etc. It must be noted that deficiency of vitamin A would lead to thick dry and cracked skin on the heels.

Burning or hot feet:

Tiredness or neuropathy etc could cause burning sensation in our feet is known. There are chances of getting affected by peripheral neuropathy (alcohol related liver disease)in cases of advanced liver damage. These people would have a burning or tingling kind of feeling in their feet.

Smelly feet:

Smelly feet are not only caused due to sweating and bacteria etc but also due to liver damage. It is noteworthy that when the liver fails to properly process and remove toxins the waste products would get removed through sweat glands present in the feet also. This could cause an unusual pungent smell in the foot as the metabolism of the body would get altered plus due to hormonal changes etc.

Pitting edema:

This sign on the feet could be due to advanced sage of liver dysfunction and is a very serious issue. It is learnt that low levels of albumin caused by poor liver function could result in the fluids getting leaked to the surrounding tissues.