Ashton Kutcher Says He Has Vasculitis — Here’s What You Need to Know About This Autoimmune Disorder
This rare disorder involves inflammation and obstruction in the blood vessels and can impact a wide variety of systems in the body.
Ashton Kutcher says he’s “lucky to be alive” after battling vasculitis, a serious autoimmune disease that impaired his hearing, vision, and walking ability.
“Like two years ago, I had this weird, super rare form of vasculitis," Kutcher revealed in a preview of an upcoming episode of National Geographic's Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge, according to Access Hollywood.
“Knocked out my vision, knocked out my hearing, knocked out like all my equilibrium,” Kutcher said during the episode. “It took me like a year to like build it all back up.”
“You don’t really appreciate it, until it’s gone,” Kutcher added. “Until you go, ‘I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to see again, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to hear again, I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to walk again.’”
What Is Vasculitis?
Vasculitis develops when the body’s immune system attacks the blood vessels, leading to inflammation and narrowing of veins, arteries, and small capillaries that can restrict or completely block blood flow, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It can lead to organ damage as well as aneurysms, which can cause potentially fatal internal bleeding.
It can attack blood vessels anywhere in the body, and can cause a wide range of symptoms including fatigue, fever, general aches and pains, appetite suppression, and weight loss. While some people with vasculitis have few symptoms, others can develop more severe disease with that can include:
- Ear and nose problems: sinus and ear infections, impaired hearing and deafness
- Eye problems: itching, burning, impaired vision and blindness
- Gastrointestinal issues: mouth sores, stomach pain, diarrhea and vomiting
- Joint pain
- Nerve problems: tingling, numbness, weakness, loss of strength, shooting pain in limbs
Some problems that can develop with vasculitis can be life-threatening, according to the NIH. These include dangerously high or low blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, heart rhythm disorders, and myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart.
There are many types of vasculitis, and the condition can attack blood vessels anywhere in the body. Specific symptoms vary based on the type of disease and where blood vessels are impacted, says Sebastian Sattui, MD, an assistant professor of rheumatology and clinical immunology and director of the Vasculitis Center at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
“We are talking about at least a dozen different conditions that can lead to many different symptoms,” Dr. Sattui said in a phone interview.
Sattui didn’t treat Ashton Kutcher and isn’t familiar with the specifics of his case. Speaking broadly, Sattui said that there are several types of vasculitis that can attack blood vessels in the eyes and ears, potentially causing vision and hearing loss. There are also many forms of vasculitis that can attack the nervous system, limiting the body’s ability to control movements, or damage muscle tissue, causing weakness that might make it difficult to walk.
Who Gets Vasculitis?
Some forms of the disease can target older patients, but others are more common in younger adults and a few strike most often in childhood, Sattui said. There are certain types that more often impact men, according to the NIH. The exact number of cases varies by type of vasculitis, but rare and often impacts only 1 in every 10,000 or 100,000 people.
Smoking and illegal drug use can increase the risk for vasculitis, and certain types of the condition can run in families, according to the NIH. Some medications, including those used to treat high blood pressure, can increase the risk for vasculitis. So can having lymphoma, a blood cancer; hepatitis B or C; or autoimmune disorders such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.
Race or ethnicity can also play a role, with some types of vasculitis most common in Scandinavian people and other forms more typically seen in people of Mediterranean, Asian, or Middle Eastern descent, according to the NIH.
How Is Vasculitis Treated?
There’s no cure, but prompt diagnosis and treatment with medications that target the type of vasculitis and blood vessel damage involved can often help prevent worsening symptoms, Sattui said.
“Early recognition is key,” Sattui said. “If, for example, you have vision loss you can prevent it from getting it worse, but sometimes once damage is established reversing it is challenging.”
It can be hard for patients to connect the dots between seemingly disparate symptoms that can develop with vasculitis, Sattui said. But patients should see a doctor if they have persistent symptoms that are concerning and hard to explain.
“Any issues where a part of your body isn’t functioning correctly you need to seek attention for it,” Sattui said. “If it’s something severe enough to affect organ function that needs to be treated as an emergency.”
Often, vasculitis is treated with medications to stop swelling and inflammation in the blood vessels and block processes in the immune system that cause the body to attack its blood vessels, according to the NIH. In rare instances, surgery may be done to restore blood flow or reduce antibodies in plasma that damage blood vessels.
“What we aim for at this point is controlling the disease and keeping it in remission,” Sattui said. “Remission is achievable.”