Every bump, scrape, fall and cut can cause big worries. After an injury, blood usually clots to slow down or stop bleeding. But if you have hemophilia, a noncancerous (benign) blood disorder, your blood doesn’t clot like it should. And that means even a tiny cut or bruise may need more than a bandage or an ice pack. If you have hemophilia, even the smallest injury may need expert care.
Hemophilia isn’t common, but it’s something our hematologists treat every day. We’re here to help you understand your rare diagnosis, answer your questions and guide you through every step of treatment. Our goal is to help you find the best ways to keep living your life to the fullest.
Why Choose Cleveland Clinic for Hemophilia Care?
Specialized knowledge:
Our team treats all noncancerous blood disorders, using the latest treatments and diagnostic tools. People come from all 50 states and around the globe to get highly personalized, expert care they can’t find other places. Meet our team.
Caring approach:
There’s more to treating a blood condition like hemophilia than the medical care side of things. Your treatment plan keeps the whole of you in mind so you can have a good quality of life, avoid complications and keep doing things you enjoy.
Innovation and research:
We offer clinical trials as part of our ongoing research into finding better treatments for blood conditions like hemophilia. This means you may be able to take part in the latest therapies that may not be widely available.
Virtual visits:
Cleveland Clinic’s virtual visits are an easy alternative to seeing your provider in person. You’ll get the same great care but from the comfort of your sofa or favorite chair. All you need is an internet connection and a smartphone, computer or tablet.
National recognition:
Cleveland Clinic is a trusted healthcare leader. We're recognized in the U.S. and throughout the world for our expertise and care.
Diagnosing Hemophilia at Cleveland Clinic
Hemophilia doesn’t typically develop on its own. It’s most often inherited, which means you’re born with it. A change (mutation) in your clotting factor genes affects the levels of these factors in your blood.
Clotting factors are proteins that combine with blood cells known as platelets. They work together to form blood clots, which control bleeding after an injury or during surgery. Having hemophilia means you have low clotting factor levels and an increased risk of bleeding. There are different types of hemophilia based on which clotting factor is affected. The most well-known include:
- Hemophilia A: Too little clotting factor 8 (factor VIII).
- Hemophilia B: Too little clotting factor 9 (factor IX).
- Hemophilia C: Too little clotting factor 11 (factor XI).
Von Willebrand disease is a common blood clotting disorder similar to hemophilia but with milder symptoms. It’s caused by too little of the von Willebrand factor (vWD).
These conditions can be mild, moderate or severe. It depends on how low your clotting factor level is. Severe hemophilia typically causes bleeding into your muscles or joints, but more serious and life-threatening bleeding (hemorrhage) can happen, such as into your brain. You may also develop large bruises (bleeding under your skin) after minor injuries or prolonged bleeding after getting a small cut.
What to expect at your first visit
The first step in starting treatment for hemophilia is confirming a diagnosis. Your provider will begin by taking a careful medical history. Understanding your story is an important part of the process. Your provider will ask you about:
- Your symptoms.
- Bleeding episodes.
- How your symptoms are affecting your life.
- Testing you’ve already had.
- Other health conditions you may have.
- If anyone else in your family has a bleeding disorder.
Your provider will also do a physical exam and order tests to help make a diagnosis.
Testing for hemophilia
These tests will check your blood’s clotting factor levels:
- Complete blood count (CBC).
- Prothrombin time (PT).
- Partial thromboplastin time (PTT).
- Fibrinogen test.
- Specific clotting factor test(s).
Meet Our Hemophilia Team
At Cleveland Clinic, you’ll have a care team made up of healthcare providers from different specialties, selected specifically for your needs. This team works together to give you expert, personalized and compassionate care. Skilled hematologists and your primary care provider will lead your team, which could also include:
Providers Who Treat Hemophilia
Locations
Our healthcare providers see patients at convenient locations throughout Northeast Ohio and Florida.Treating Hemophilia at Cleveland Clinic
Treatment most often includes boosting your clotting factor levels or replacing missing factors. This is called factor replacement therapy. We use purified clotting factors to replace the one that you’re missing.
If you have hemophilia A, we’ll give you factor VIII infusions (antihemophilic factor or AHF). For hemophilia B, you’ll receive factor IX infusions. And for von Willebrand disease, purified von Willebrand factor is available.
Having low levels of Factor XI often doesn’t require treatment. However, if you’re going to have surgery or dental work, you may need replacement therapy beforehand.
If you have severe hemophilia, you may also get factor infusions to prevent frequent or uncontrolled bleeding. This type of treatment is called prophylactic therapy.
Living With Hemophilia
Hemophilia is lifelong. This means you’ll have regular appointments with our care team so we can check your treatment progress. We help you manage your condition and learn what things you should avoid, like:
- Activities where you can get bumped, hit or may fall, like football, hockey, boxing, wrestling, rugby or skateboarding.
- Over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications like aspirin (Bayer®), ibuprofen (Advil® or Motrin®) and naproxen (Aleve®).
- Prescription anticoagulants.
We’ll also go over important things like getting regular exercise, stress management and good dental care. And we’ll help you know when to go to the emergency room or call your provider.
And if you need help sharing information about your condition with those around you, we can also help you do that. It’s important that friends and family understand what to do if you have spontaneous bleeding.
Taking the Next Step
You may worry about what’s next when you find out you have hemophilia. Will you be able to stay active? Will you have to be careful about everything you do? We know you have questions about treatment — and about your future. We have the answers and personalized care you need. We’re here to help you manage this rare blood disorder by reducing your symptoms and finding ways to safely live life to the fullest.
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