Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsGrout Crystals DevelopmentTophi TreatmentHome RemediesMedicationsSurgeryOutlook
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Grout Crystals Development
Tophi Treatment
Home Remedies
Medications
Surgery
Outlook
If you’ve been diagnosed withgout, you know that it can be an extremely painful condition. You may also wonder how gout crystals can be removed from your joints to relieve the pain.
It is possible to reduce the number of gout crystals in your joints with certain prescription medications, Certain lifestyle measures may also be helpful. If gout crystals become very painful or disabling, surgical methods may be necessary to relieve pain, avoid infection, or restore mobility.
This article explains what gout crystals are, what causes them to build up and form painful nodules, and how they can be treated.
How Do Grout Crystals Develop?
Whenpurines—substances found in certain foods like red meat, dried beans, and alcohol—break down in the body, it causesuric acidto form. The uric acid then passes through the kidneys and out of the body in the urine.
With gout, however, the uric acid can accumulate and form needle-like crystals calledtophithat deposit in the joints and cause pain.Untreated gout or gout that has progressed can become chronictophaceousgout. When this occurs, painful nodules can form and interfere with the ability to perform daily activities.
Tophi in Gout
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How to Get Rid of Gout Crystals
Treating gout tophi requires a comprehensive plan. Your healthcare provider may prescribe medication and will also talk to you about lifestyle modifications.
The object of treatment is to maintain your health and quality of life. Staying active and seeking guidance for the types of activity that are best for you and your joints can also help you live well with gout.
How Gout Is Treated
Lifestyle measures that can help reduce the buildup of uric acid in your body include:
Your healthcare provider may prescribe medications to lower the amount of uric acid in your blood to dissolve crystals and prevent new ones from forming. These include:
If you have gout tophi that do not decrease in size and continue to cause pain and disability even with treatment, your healthcare provider may suggest surgery.
You may need surgery for impaired function, nerve compression, infection, joint instability, significant pain, and skin ulceration.Ulcerated gouty tophi are prone to infections. Surgery is considered when infection occurs and when there is a risk ofsepsis.
There are several surgical options for gout tophi, including:
Gout is a chronic condition that can flare up when new gout crystals form. With medications that control uric acid buildup, it can take six to 12 months after the uric acid level is suppressed below 6.0 mg/dl for symptoms of gout to stop.Still, lifestyle measures are necessary to keep uric acid levels under control.
Summary
10 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Chhana A, Dalbeth N.The gouty tophus: a review.Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2015;17(3):19. doi:10.1007/s11926-014-0492-xXu J, Zhu Z, Zhang W.Clinical characteristics of infectious ulceration over tophi in patients with gout.J Int Med Res. 2018;46(6):2258-2264. doi:10.1177/0300060518761303Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Gout.The Arthritis Foundation.Gout diet: dos and don’ts.The Arthritis Foundation.Gout.Öztürk R, Atalay İB, Bulut EK, Beltir G, Yılmaz S, Güngör BŞ.Place of orthopedic surgery in gout.Eur J Rheumatol. 2019;6(4):212-215. doi:10.5152/eurjrheum.2019.19060Słowińska I, Słowiński R, Rutkowska-Sak L.Tophi - surgical treatment.Reumatologia. 2016;54(5):267-272. doi:10.5114/reum.2016.63819Kim Y, Park E, Lee H, Koh Y.First metatarsophalangeal joint arthrodesis for the treatment of tophaceous gouty arthritis.Orthopedics. 2014;37(2):e141-e147. doi:10.3928/01477447-20140124-15Chang-Fu Kuo, I-Jun Chou, Lai-Chu See, Jung-Sheng Chen, Kuang-Hui Yu, Shue-Fen Luo, Ao-Ho Hsieh, Weiya Zhang, Michael Doherty.Urate-lowering treatment and risk of total joint replacement in patients with gout.Rheumatology. 2018;57(12):2129–2139. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/key212The Arthritis Foundation.Expert Q&A: Why is my gout not getting better?Additional ReadingGout | Arthritis | CDC. Cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/gout.html.Topics H. Gout | Gouty Arthritis | MedlinePlus. Medlineplus.gov. https://medlineplus.gov/gout.html.
10 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Chhana A, Dalbeth N.The gouty tophus: a review.Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2015;17(3):19. doi:10.1007/s11926-014-0492-xXu J, Zhu Z, Zhang W.Clinical characteristics of infectious ulceration over tophi in patients with gout.J Int Med Res. 2018;46(6):2258-2264. doi:10.1177/0300060518761303Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Gout.The Arthritis Foundation.Gout diet: dos and don’ts.The Arthritis Foundation.Gout.Öztürk R, Atalay İB, Bulut EK, Beltir G, Yılmaz S, Güngör BŞ.Place of orthopedic surgery in gout.Eur J Rheumatol. 2019;6(4):212-215. doi:10.5152/eurjrheum.2019.19060Słowińska I, Słowiński R, Rutkowska-Sak L.Tophi - surgical treatment.Reumatologia. 2016;54(5):267-272. doi:10.5114/reum.2016.63819Kim Y, Park E, Lee H, Koh Y.First metatarsophalangeal joint arthrodesis for the treatment of tophaceous gouty arthritis.Orthopedics. 2014;37(2):e141-e147. doi:10.3928/01477447-20140124-15Chang-Fu Kuo, I-Jun Chou, Lai-Chu See, Jung-Sheng Chen, Kuang-Hui Yu, Shue-Fen Luo, Ao-Ho Hsieh, Weiya Zhang, Michael Doherty.Urate-lowering treatment and risk of total joint replacement in patients with gout.Rheumatology. 2018;57(12):2129–2139. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/key212The Arthritis Foundation.Expert Q&A: Why is my gout not getting better?Additional ReadingGout | Arthritis | CDC. Cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/gout.html.Topics H. Gout | Gouty Arthritis | MedlinePlus. Medlineplus.gov. https://medlineplus.gov/gout.html.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Chhana A, Dalbeth N.The gouty tophus: a review.Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2015;17(3):19. doi:10.1007/s11926-014-0492-xXu J, Zhu Z, Zhang W.Clinical characteristics of infectious ulceration over tophi in patients with gout.J Int Med Res. 2018;46(6):2258-2264. doi:10.1177/0300060518761303Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Gout.The Arthritis Foundation.Gout diet: dos and don’ts.The Arthritis Foundation.Gout.Öztürk R, Atalay İB, Bulut EK, Beltir G, Yılmaz S, Güngör BŞ.Place of orthopedic surgery in gout.Eur J Rheumatol. 2019;6(4):212-215. doi:10.5152/eurjrheum.2019.19060Słowińska I, Słowiński R, Rutkowska-Sak L.Tophi - surgical treatment.Reumatologia. 2016;54(5):267-272. doi:10.5114/reum.2016.63819Kim Y, Park E, Lee H, Koh Y.First metatarsophalangeal joint arthrodesis for the treatment of tophaceous gouty arthritis.Orthopedics. 2014;37(2):e141-e147. doi:10.3928/01477447-20140124-15Chang-Fu Kuo, I-Jun Chou, Lai-Chu See, Jung-Sheng Chen, Kuang-Hui Yu, Shue-Fen Luo, Ao-Ho Hsieh, Weiya Zhang, Michael Doherty.Urate-lowering treatment and risk of total joint replacement in patients with gout.Rheumatology. 2018;57(12):2129–2139. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/key212The Arthritis Foundation.Expert Q&A: Why is my gout not getting better?
Chhana A, Dalbeth N.The gouty tophus: a review.Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2015;17(3):19. doi:10.1007/s11926-014-0492-x
Xu J, Zhu Z, Zhang W.Clinical characteristics of infectious ulceration over tophi in patients with gout.J Int Med Res. 2018;46(6):2258-2264. doi:10.1177/0300060518761303
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Gout.
The Arthritis Foundation.Gout diet: dos and don’ts.
The Arthritis Foundation.Gout.
Öztürk R, Atalay İB, Bulut EK, Beltir G, Yılmaz S, Güngör BŞ.Place of orthopedic surgery in gout.Eur J Rheumatol. 2019;6(4):212-215. doi:10.5152/eurjrheum.2019.19060
Słowińska I, Słowiński R, Rutkowska-Sak L.Tophi - surgical treatment.Reumatologia. 2016;54(5):267-272. doi:10.5114/reum.2016.63819
Kim Y, Park E, Lee H, Koh Y.First metatarsophalangeal joint arthrodesis for the treatment of tophaceous gouty arthritis.Orthopedics. 2014;37(2):e141-e147. doi:10.3928/01477447-20140124-15
Chang-Fu Kuo, I-Jun Chou, Lai-Chu See, Jung-Sheng Chen, Kuang-Hui Yu, Shue-Fen Luo, Ao-Ho Hsieh, Weiya Zhang, Michael Doherty.Urate-lowering treatment and risk of total joint replacement in patients with gout.Rheumatology. 2018;57(12):2129–2139. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/key212
The Arthritis Foundation.Expert Q&A: Why is my gout not getting better?
Gout | Arthritis | CDC. Cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/gout.html.Topics H. Gout | Gouty Arthritis | MedlinePlus. Medlineplus.gov. https://medlineplus.gov/gout.html.
Gout | Arthritis | CDC. Cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/gout.html.
Topics H. Gout | Gouty Arthritis | MedlinePlus. Medlineplus.gov. https://medlineplus.gov/gout.html.
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