Does Low Potassium Make My Face Look Swollen?
Potassium is one of several minerals essential to your health. It plays a central role in nerve conduction, allowing for the brain function, muscle movement and heart functioning essential to survival. Low potassium levels negatively impact your health. In some cases, low potassium might cause your face to appear swollen due to fluid retention.
POTASSIUM AND FLUID BALANCE
Potassium levels play an important role in regulating the amount of water in your body. Your blood plasma contains several salts, or electrolytes, including sodium and potassium. The relative concentration of these salts regulates your fluid levels, as your body tries to maintain constant electrolyte concentrations. Relatively low levels of potassium and high levels of sodium disrupt your body's natural fluid balance, causing increased fluid retention. As a result, relatively low potassium levels might lead to water retention.
EFFECTS OF FLUID RETENTION
If you experience water retention due to relatively low potassium levels in your bloodstream, you might develop swelling around your face. You might also notice swelling of other tissues, especially extremities like your feet and fingers. Chronic fluid retention can also have long-term health consequences, leading to high blood pressure that increases your risk of stroke. For this reason, maintaining adequate potassium levels can benefit your cardiovascular system, and potassium has been implicated in managing high blood pressure, according to The Harvard Medical School.
POSSIBLE CAUSES OF LOW POTASSIUM
A number of underlying conditions can affect the levels of potassium in your body, increasing your risk of low potassium levels. Severe digestive problems might temporarily lower your potassium levels, since diarrhea and vomiting can both disrupt your body's fluid balance. Kidney disease might cause chronically low levels of potassium in your system, since your body relies on proper kidney function to help maintain healthy potassium levels. In addition, abusing certain laxatives or diuretics can increase potassium excretion from your body, causing low potassium levels.
If you have swelling in your face and think you might have a potassium deficiency, consult a doctor. She can test the levels of potassium and other electrolytes in your blood to determine whether you have an electrolyte imbalance, and recommend an appropriate course of treatment. Chronic swelling around your face might also result from other underlying conditions unrelated to your potassium level, including infections or other diseases that affect the lymph nodes around your face. Seeking medical attention allows your doctor to address the underlying condition to help reduce the swelling.
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