Puffed Face in Nephrotic Syndrome: Causes and Treatment

Puffed face, especially swelling around eyelids is an early sign of Nephrotic Syndrome. Therefore, if you have puffed face for no clear reason, you should pay more attention to it. Why do the patients with Nephrotic Syndrome suffer from puffed face and how to treat it?

Protein loss in urine is the leading cause of puffed face in Nephrotic Syndrome. The glomeruli in kidneys have mechanical barrier and electrostatic barrier function. In normal case, they can preserve the protein that body needs in blood.

However, in Nephrotic Syndrome, the abnormal immune response causes much immune complexes to deposit in glomeruli. Afterwards, the body starts an inflammation response to remove the immune complexes. As a result, the inflammation can impair the glomeruli and affect their function. Once the glomerular mechanical barrier and electrostatic barrier functions are damaged, the proteins will leakage into urine. The protein level in blood decreases, which will cause the plasm colloid osmotic pressure to decline. As a result, the fluid will penetrate into subcutaneous tissue resulting in swelling, especially in the loose part.

In addition, the impaired glomeruli can not excrete the water and metabolic wastes normally. Hence, it will cause retention of water and sodium in body thus leading to swelling.

The above are the two causes of puffed faces in Nephrotic Syndrome. To relieve the symptom, eliminating protein in urine is a crucial point. Therefore, the patients should firstly take relevant treatment to restore the impaired glomeruli.

On one hand, the therapy should remove the immune complexes so as to eliminate the inducement of inflammation. In this way, it can stop the continuing damage to glomeruli.

On the other hand, the therapy should be able to repair the damaged glomeruli. If the glomeruli are repaired very well, the glomerular function will recover normal. Afterwards, the protein in urine will disappear. Once the cause of swelling is removed, the puffed face will improve.


To achieve the above therapeutic effects, immunotherapy is recommended to the patients with Nephrotic Syndrome. Immunotherapy aims at relieving the symptoms by correcting abnormal immune system and suppressing immune response. Therefore, the patients can get a fundamental recovery without relapses.