EXPLAINED: What Is Vasculitis? The Rare Disease That Left Actor Ashton Kutcher Unable To See, Hear And Walk

The symptoms of vasculitis vary based on the part of the body it affects. Because vasculitis can attack any blood vessel, every patient’s case will look different. It’s not clear what causes vasculitis or its flare-ups.

Written by: India.com News Desk Edited by: Analiza Pathak

Updated: August 10, 2022, 10:56 AM IST

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What Is Vasculitis? The Rare Disease That Left Actor Ashton Kutcher Unable To See, Hear And Walk

Ashton Kutcher vasculitis disease EXPLAINED: Actor Ashton Kutcher has revealed that a battle with vasculitis affected his ability to see, hear or walk for a year. Kutcher revealed his diagnosis in an episode of the show “Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge” that aired Monday night on National Geographic. “Two years ago, I had this weird, super rare form of vasculitis that, like, knocked out my vision. It knocked out my hearing. It knocked out, like, all my equilibrium,” Kutcher told Grylls. Kutcher’s rare autoimmune condition, vasculitis, is a disorder characterized by inflammation of the blood vessels that can be life-threatening. Experts say it’s notoriously hard to diagnose.

But what exactly is vasculitis and How does it affect human beings? Know its symptoms, risk factors and how is it treated?

What is vasculitis?

• Vasculitis means inflammation of the blood vessels. It occurs when the body’s immune system attacks veins, arteries and small capillaries.
• Inflammation is your immune system’s natural response to injury or infection.
• It causes swelling and can help the body deal with invading germs.
• However in vasculitis, the immune system attacks healthy blood vessels, causing them to become swollen and narrow – according to the NHS.
• This may be triggered by an infection or a medicine, but the cause is often unknown.
• Vasculitis can range from a minor problem that just affects the skin, to a more serious illness that causes problems with organs like the heart or kidneys.

Vasculitis risk factors, symptoms

• As per the NIH, age, ethnicity, family history and lifestyle factors such as smoking and illegal drug use can contribute to the risk for vasculitis.
• Certain medications for high blood pressure, thyroid disease and infections can contribute as well, as per the website.
• There are several different types of vasculitis, and it can affect any of the blood vessels in the body. A sufferer may experience general symptoms, such as fever, weight loss, tiredness, pain, and rash.
• A patient may also have other symptoms depending on the part of the body that is affected and if the vasculitis is serious.
• As per the website, vasculitis can occur alone or in conjunction with other rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or scleroderma.
• Having a hepatitis B or C infection can also be a trigger, as can blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.

Vasculitis diagnosis and treatment

“The common ways that you would diagnose a patient with vasculitis is black spots at the tips of their fingers or toes, because those are the furthest away from your heart,” Oghalai explained.

“As the vessels become inflamed, the blood can’t flow through it so you can get cell death at very distal extremities.”

Oghalai said patients with vasculitis are typically first given a steroid, like prednisone, which block the immune system. If the steroid doesn’t seem to solve the issue or if the vasculitis returns, patients can be given methotrexate, “an immunosuppressant medication used for vasculitis and other types of autoimmune diseases,” Oghalai said.

Oghalai added, “Vasculitis itself is pretty common. It’s a short-term thing for most people and it results spontaneously.”

NOTE: The symptoms of vasculitis vary based on the part of the body it affects. Because vasculitis can attack any blood vessel, every patient’s case will look different, said Dr. Anisha Dua, an associate professor of medicine in rheumatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

It’s not clear what causes vasculitis or its flare-ups. Dua said that sometimes an illness or a stressful event “sort of triggers this whole cascade of events.”