YELLOW patches or deposits of cholesterol in the skin around the eyelid is an indication of heart disease.

A post by iVillage.com quoted the study team led by Dr. Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, from the department of clinical biochemistry at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark as saying that cholesterol deposits around the eyes are linked to heart risk. But how it was acquired or what causes it was not proven yet.

Hansen said it can help the physicians where lipid profile measurement is difficult to screen for heart disease.

The cholesterol deposits which is known as xanthelasmata, the bloated yellow patches around the eyes, are not always easily identified in blood tests as having high cholesterol.

Xanthelasmata, also called arcus corneae,   white or grey rings surrounding the cornea, have previously been determined to signal deposits of cholesterol.

Between 1976 and 2009, Hansen’s team surveyed and tracked nearly 13,000 Danish patients aged 20 to 93 who were participating in the Copenhagen City Heart Study.

Although none had heart disease at the time of the study launch, when the investigation began a little more than four percent had xanthelasmata, while nearly a quarter had arcus corneae.

Ultimately, more than 1,870 of the participants had a heart attack, and nearly 3,800 developed heart disease. Roughly 1,500 had a stroke and 1,815 developed cerebrovascular disease. All told, just over 8,500 died by the study's conclusion.

By that point, the study team found that having xanthelasmata was independently associated with bearing a higher risk for experiencing a heart attack and developing heart disease. It was also linked to a greater likelihood of dying within a 10-year period.

The finding held regardless of gender, smoking history, obesity and blood pressure/cholesterol levels, with men between the ages of 70 and 79 facing the highest risk.

Hansen stressed that arcus corneae, however, was not linked to heart disease or heart attack risk.