Turkey: Man shocks doctors after developing swollen head after day at beach
This condition was a head-scratcher for doctors.
A man in Turkey stunned medical teams when his head randomly began swelling to a concerning degree after spending time on the beach in the city of Zonguldak on Aug. 23, CEN reported.
On the third day, Caner Arik, 33 — an Istanbul call-center worker on vacation by the Black Sea in the country’s northern region — spotted the swelling and distortion of his facial features and rushed to seek medical attention.
His scalp was suffering from an extremely rare condition — one rarely seen beyond a person’s feet or hands — called heat edema, according to doctors at Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University Health Application and Research Centre.
“We have never encountered such a case before,” said Emergency Medicine Specialist Dr. Abdullah Cuneyt Hocagil. “After excluding the causes of localized edema in the body, we decided that the swelling on the forehead of the patient was a ‘heat edema’. We started treatment for this.”
In standard cases, heat edemas usually come from a buildup of fluids into the hands and legs by way of downward gravity. They are caused by expanded blood vessels brought on by high temperatures, according to the University of Michigan.
A hot day at the beach — at a time Dr. Hocagil said the nation was experiencing severe humidity — serves as a shining example of the perfect conditions to manifest heat edema.
The doctor also came up with a rational explanation as to why Arik contracted the heat edema.
“This happened when our patient was lying by the sea, while he was wearing a hat that would prevent circulation,” Dr. Hocagil said. “That’s why it’s an interesting case. We will publish this situation as a rare heat-induced skin edema on the scalp at an international congress.”
Now Arik is recovering at home and doctors believe his symptoms will be passing soon. He granted medical workers permission to conduct a scientific study on his heat edema.
