Behcet's Disease

Behcet's Disease

Behcet’s Disease

Behcet’s disease is a condition that is due to disturbances in the bodies immune system. The immune system becomes overactive and makes your body have unpredictable outbreaks of exaggerated inflammation. This inflammation affects small blood vessels.

Cause

No one knows exactly why the immune system acts this way during Behcet’s. It isn’t because of any known infections, or heredity, or anything like that. Behcet’s is rare in the United States, but it is common in the Middle East and Asia, so it might have something to do with climate. It isn’t associated with cancer or tissue types. Studies have shown, though, that some people get it due to food allergies, mostly in dairy products.


Outcome

When you have Behcet’s, you can get extremely large mouth ulcers. It starts with a small pin point size ulcer, which grows and becomes large. These ulcers have a yellow center with a red outline. Mouth ulcers are usually the first symptoms in patients. You can also get genital ulcers from Behcet’s Disease. They look the same as the mouth ulcers but can be larger, deeper, and can last longer. In males, they occur on the scrotum, penis, and groin. In females, they occur on the vulva, vagina, groin, and cervix. In women, these ulcers could be caused from menstruation, pregnancy, or child birth. The eyes are also affected in 75% of Behcet’s patients. These eye problems are caused from inflammation inside the eye. Also, ulcers can occur on the outside of and around the eye. This is the first symptom in 20% of patients. There have been different lesions on most patients that look similar to acne, but are part of Behcet’s disease. Sometimes the face may even swell. Swelling may also occur on the legs, arms, and basically any other imaginable part of your body. There may also be problems in joints and inside the stomach.

Testing

There is no specific test for Behcet’s disease. The disease is usually diagnosed by the...