What is alcoholic liver disease?

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Drinking too much alcohol can lead to three types of liver conditions - fatty liver, hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Any, or all, of these conditions can occur at the same time in the same person.

Fatty liver

A build-up of fat occurs within liver cells in most people who regularly drink heavily. In itself, fatty liver is not usually serious and does not cause symptoms. Fatty liver will usually reverse if you stop drinking heavily. However, in some people the fatty liver progresses and develops into hepatitis.

Alcoholic hepatitis

Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. The inflammation can range from mild to severe.

Mild hepatitis may not cause any symptoms. The only indication of inflammation may be an abnormal level of liver enzymes in the blood which can be detected by a blood test. However, in some cases the hepatitis becomes persistent (chronic), which can gradually damage the liver and eventually cause cirrhosis.
A more severe hepatitis tends to cause symptoms such as feeling sick, jaundice (yellowing of the skin caused by a high level of bilirubin - a chemical normally metabolised in the liver), generally feeling unwell, and sometimes pain over the liver.
A very severe bout of alcoholic hepatitis can quickly lead to liver failure. This can cause deep jaundice, blood clotting problems, confusion, coma, bleeding into the guts, and is often fatal.