The liver makes proteins, processes nutrients and clears waste and harmful substances from the body. When it falters the effects can sometimes appear in the feet, ankles and skin. But the same signs have many other causes, so anyone who notices them should see a doctor.

Swollen feet and ankles: a badly damaged liver can make less of the protein albumin, upsetting the body's fluid balance so that fluid collects in the legs, feet and ankles, a condition called peripheral oedema. Heart or kidney problems can do the same.

Itchy soles: long-lasting itching with no obvious cause can be linked to liver trouble, especially cholestasis, when bile components build up in the blood. Repeated tingling, burning or numbness in the feet can come from diabetes, nerve problems or poor nutrition, and also from long-term liver disease.

Yellow skin or nails: when the liver fails, bilirubin can rise and cause jaundice, turning the skin, the whites of the eyes and sometimes the nails yellow, most visibly in daylight. Unusual red or brown marks on the feet, or small web-like red blood vessels called spider angiomas, can appear in chronic liver disease, though such marks have other causes too.

Doctor Anuj Pahuja says swollen feet can signal heart disease, diabetes and other conditions, and sometimes a liver problem. If changes in the feet come with yellow eyes or skin, a swollen abdomen, unusual tiredness, easy bleeding or fluid retention, a doctor should arrange blood and other tests. Diagnosing liver disease from one sign in the feet is not safe.

Source: Banglavision