Gout Crystals
Learn exactly what causes gout and pseudogout: difference between gout crystals and pseudogout crystals.
Gout Crystals Images
The above gout crystals image shows gout uric acid crystals also known as monosodium urate crystals in synovial fluid taken from a joint with gout disease. Seen during gout diagnosis under a polarized light microscope magnified 400 times only. A gout crystal is shaped like a needle or like a rod.
What causes gout is when high levels of uric acid or sodium urate accumulates in body fluids, form crystals and get deposited in joints causing gouty arthritis inflammation. Gout crystals may also be deposited in cartilage, in bones or as lumps or tophi under the skin on the edge of the outer ear, the back of your hand, elbow, heel or toes:
Gout crystal image showing gout tophi on the ear
Gout crystals forming gout tophi on each side of the bone near the joint. When no gout tophi are seen externally:
- the damage to or
- the erosion of the bone caused by such a gout tophus will be clearly visible on an x-ray.
Gout used to be a disease of adult men, because their kidneys excrete uric acid less well than women and children. Gout starts with a sudden gout attack that lasts for a few days. Without proper gout treatments, gout tophi will appear and disable the joints.
Treating gout focuses on keeping the uric acid level in your blood below levels that could trigger gout attacks.
Pseudogout Crystals
Pseudogout crystals are calcium phosphate crystals and clearly different than gout crystals.
Gout and pseudogout do show similar arthritis symptoms like sudden acute attacks of one joint getting warm, swelling up and becoming extremely painful. Treatments for reducing the acute symptoms of both forms of arthritis are similar.
However:
- pseudogout prevention is best achieved with small daily doses of colchicine
- gout prevention and gout treatment is based on avoiding purine rich foods that cause gout as well as medicines lowering the uric acid level in the blood or raising the efficiency of the kidneys to expel more uric acid, hence reducing the risk of the formation of gout crystals.
