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Hemophilia is a disorder in which a person’s blood is not able to clot
normally. In normal blood, proteins called clotting factors work together to
form a clot whenever bleeding occurs. The person with hemophilia lacks or
doesn’t have enough of a certain clotting factor so the blood can’t make a
clot. This is not a
problem when a person with hemophilia has a simple cut or scrape. He doesn’t
bleed any faster than the average person. He can hold pressure on the cut
and platelets in the blood will stop the bleeding.
The problem for people with
hemophilia is bleeding inside the body, especially bleeding into joints like
the knees, elbows, and ankles. When bleeding happens inside the joint, it
becomes very swollen and painful. Repeated bleeding into a joint can cause a
type of crippling arthritis. Bleeding inside other parts of the body, such
as the brain, throat, and abdomen can be life-threatening.
Hemophilia is classified as
either mild, moderate or severe, depending on the amount of clotting factor
a person has in his body. Severe hemophilia is actually the most common
form. A person with severe hemophilia has less than 1% of the normal amount
of a clotting factor - either factor VIII (8) or factor IX (9). People
without hemophilia have between 50-150% of the normal level of factor VIII
or IX.
A person with mild hemophilia
may only have problems with bleeding when he has surgery, major dental work,
or a severe injury. A person with moderate hemophilia will have those
problems plus bleeding problems with more minor injuries such as a hard bump
to the knee. A person with severe hemophilia can have what are called
spontaneous bleeds - bleeding that starts inside the body for no known
reason. |
