How To Prevent Xanthelasma

Can You Prevent Xanthelasma?

Not completely. You can lower your risk by managing blood fats and related conditions, but because age, sex, genes and local eyelid factors play a big part, xanthelasma can still appear in people who do everything right.

Xanthelasma forms when lipid leaks from the eyelid’s small blood vessels, which blinking compresses and age makes leakier, and immune cells fill with it to become foam cells.^[1] About half of people with xanthelasma have a primary or secondary lipid disorder.^[1] Prevention can target the blood fat side, but not the blinking or the aging of the vessels.

That’s the honest picture: prevention lowers the odds and protects your heart, but it isn’t a guarantee, and it won’t clear plaques you already have. For what causes it in the first place, see the causes of xanthelasma; for stopping existing plaques, how do you stop xanthelasma.

What Can And Can’t You Change To Prevent Xanthelasma?

You can change your blood fats, weight, activity, smoking and how well diabetes or thyroid problems are controlled. You can’t change your age, sex, genes or the way your eyelids work.

Xanthelasma affects about 1.1% of women and 0.3% of men and peaks between 35 and 55.^[1] In a study of 42 patients, 54.8% had normal cholesterol, and the authors suggested local, hormonal or immune-cell factors may explain those cases.^[4] That’s why prevention has limits. Our guide on whether xanthelasma is genetic explains the inherited side.

Why Is Knowing Your Numbers The First Step In Prevention?

Because prevention depends on what’s behind your risk. A fasting lipid profile, liver, thyroid and blood sugar tests show whether there’s a blood fat disorder or related condition to manage.

The standard workup for xanthelasma is a fasting lipid profile, a liver panel, thyroid function tests and fasting glucose, with HbA1c for people with diabetes.^[1] If your results are abnormal, managing them is the most useful prevention step. If they’re normal, diet changes are still good for your heart but may make less difference to your eyelids.

Low HDL is easy to miss if you only know your total cholesterol: in one study, median HDL was 36.2 mg/dL in patients against 50.5 mg/dL in controls.^[4] Ask for the full breakdown. Our guide on whether xanthelasma indicates raised cholesterol explains the numbers.

What Should You Eat To Help Prevent Xanthelasma?

Eat the way that helps prevent high cholesterol: limit saturated fat, trans fat, sodium and added sugar, choose high-fiber foods such as oats and beans, and favor unsaturated fats from olive oil, avocados and nuts.

• Limit saturated fat. Its main sources are animal products such as cheese, fatty meats and dairy desserts, and tropical oils like palm oil.^[2]
• Choose low trans fat, sodium and added sugar. Lean meats, seafood, low-fat dairy, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.^[2]
• Eat more fiber. Oatmeal and beans are good sources.^[2]
• Favor unsaturated fats. Avocados, olive oil and other vegetable oils, and nuts.^[2]

Diet is a tool for your blood fats and heart, not a direct fix for eyelid plaques: low-fat diets have a questionable effect on existing xanthelasma.^[3] Our guides on what foods cause xanthelasma and what to eat for xanthelasma go further.

Do Activity, Weight, Smoking And Alcohol Matter?

Yes, for your blood fats and heart. Aim for about 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, keep a healthy weight, don’t smoke, and keep alcohol to no more than one drink a day for women or two for men.

1. Move more. Adults should get about 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, such as brisk walking or cycling.^[2]
2. Build it into your day. Taking the stairs and similar habits all count.^[2]
3. Keep a healthy weight. Ask your doctor what’s healthy for you.^[2]
4. Don’t smoke. Quitting lowers your heart disease risk.^[2]
5. Limit alcohol. No more than two drinks a day for men and one for women.^[2]

These are the same steps that help prevent high cholesterol and heart disease, so they’re worth taking whether or not they change your eyelids.

Which Conditions Should You Manage To Prevent Xanthelasma?

An underactive thyroid, diabetes, liver conditions such as primary biliary cholangitis, and kidney disease can all raise blood fats. Keeping them under control, and reviewing medicines that raise blood fats, lowers the risk.

• Underactive thyroid. A recognized secondary cause; managing it brings blood fats down.^[1]
• Diabetes. Raises blood fats; HbA1c is checked if you have it.^[1]
• Primary biliary cholangitis. A liver condition that raises cholesterol through lipoprotein X.^[1]
• Nephrotic syndrome. A kidney condition that raises blood fats.^[1]
• Medicines. Retinoids and estrogens can raise blood fats; ask your doctor rather than stopping them yourself.^[1]

Our guide on what xanthelasma indicates explains each link.

Does Cholesterol-Lowering Medicine Prevent Xanthelasma?

Read moreHow Fast Does Xanthelasma Grow

It protects your heart if your cholesterol is high, but its effect on xanthelasma itself is questionable. Take it if your doctor recommends it for your blood fats, not as a way to clear eyelid plaques.

An ophthalmology reference notes that statins and low-fat diets have a questionable effect on xanthelasma.^[3] That doesn’t mean they’re pointless: if you have a blood fat disorder, lowering it is important for your heart, and it may help limit new plaques. It just means you shouldn’t expect existing plaques to fade.

For inherited cholesterol disorders, which are more likely when xanthelasma appears young,^[1] a specialist will usually manage medicine long term.

How Can You Prevent Xanthelasma Coming Back After Removal?

Keep any cause under control, have periodic blood tests, and deal with new plaques while they’re small. Recurrence is generally under 50%, but higher after repeat procedures and with deep plaques.

Recurrence after removal is generally under 50%, rising to around 60% after repeat procedures and higher for deeper plaques.^[1] One widely quoted surgical report found plaques returned in 40% after a first excision, 60% after a second and 80% when all four eyelids were involved, with about a quarter returning in the first year.^[6] If plaques keep coming back, clinical guidance recommends rechecking blood fats.^[6]

Our guides on whether xanthelasma comes back and whether it can come back explain the odds.

Can You Prevent Small Plaques From Growing?

Not reliably by lifestyle alone, but you can deal with them while they’re small. Small, soft plaques that have been there less than a year are the simplest to remove; larger, older or harder plaques usually need surgery.

Clinical guidance matches removal to the plaque: soft, superficial plaques under 5 mm high and less than a year old suit lighter methods, while plaques 5 mm or higher, hard, or present over a year usually need surgery.^[6] So acting early is the most practical way to stop a small plaque becoming a bigger problem.

Our guides on how to stop xanthelasma from growing and whether xanthelasma can get bigger explain more.

Why Is Prevention Worth It Even If Plaques Still Appear?

Because the same steps protect your heart. Xanthelasma is linked with a higher risk of heart attack and heart disease, independent of cholesterol, so looking after your blood fats and lifestyle pays off whatever happens to your eyelids.

A study of almost 13,000 people followed for decades found xanthelasma was linked with a higher risk of heart attack and heart disease independent of cholesterol.^[5] That makes the prevention steps on this page worth taking even if you have normal blood fats and even if plaques still appear. Ask your doctor to look at your overall heart risk, including blood pressure and family history.

What Won’t Prevent Xanthelasma?

Kitchen remedies, eye creams not made for xanthelasma, squeezing, and supplements sold as cholesterol cures. We haven’t found evidence that any of them prevents xanthelasma, and some can harm the eyelid.

• Garlic and vinegar. No evidence they prevent or remove xanthelasma, and both can burn the skin.
• Squeezing or picking. Doesn’t remove plaques and can scar; see whether you can squeeze out xanthelasma.
• Supplements. We haven’t found published evidence that any supplement prevents xanthelasma; talk to your doctor before taking anything for cholesterol.
• Waiting for it to fade. Plaques rarely clear by themselves.

If plaques bother you while you work on prevention, makeup can hide them: see how to cover xanthelasma with makeup.

What Should You Do About Plaques You Already Have?

Remove them, in a clinic or at home, because prevention won’t clear them. Clinic options include laser, surgery and peels; many people with small to medium plaques use a removal cream made for xanthelasma.

Prevention and removal work together: removal deals with the plaques you have, and prevention lowers the chance of new ones. Our guides to the removal of xanthelasma, how you can remove xanthelasma and xanthelasma cream compare the routes.

If you’re working on prevention with your doctor and want to deal with existing plaques at home, this is the cream we make for xanthelasma.

What’s The Bottom Line On How To Prevent Xanthelasma?

You can’t fully prevent xanthelasma, but you can lower the risk: know your numbers, manage blood fats, diabetes and thyroid problems, and follow heart-healthy habits. Those steps protect your heart either way. Existing plaques need removing.

Be realistic: about half of people with xanthelasma have normal cholesterol, so plaques can appear despite your best efforts, and that isn’t a failure. Xanthel® is a cosmetic cream made for xanthelasma removal at home, sold by Xanthelasma.com. You’ll find it at the foot of this page, or read more about Xanthel® xanthelasma removal cream, see our main xanthelasma guide, and browse all our xanthelasma guides.

Common Questions About Preventing Xanthelasma

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How Do You Stop Xanthelasma?Dealing with existing plaques Stop Xanthelasma GrowingActing while it’s small Does Xanthelasma Come Back?Recurrence explained What Foods Cause Xanthelasma?Diet and blood fats What To Eat For XanthelasmaHeart-healthy eating Causes Of XanthelasmaThe full medical explanation