Hemophilia Health Video

Hemophilia is a genetic disorder characterized by a deficiency of clotting factors in the blood. Learn more about the causes, symptoms, and treatments of hemophilia in this free health video.

Take Action

Treat hemophilia with clotting factor replacement
Contact a doctor for unusual bleeding
Contact a doctor if known genetic relative has hemophilia

About this Author

Dr. Sewell joined On Call Medical Group after serving as the Medical Director of the Samaritan House in San Mateo. Dr. Sewell continues his community service and out reach work by acting locally. Dr. Sewell strives to provide the most comprehensive, personalized, and convenient medical care possible. He is dedicated to meeting each patient's individual needs and health care goals. Dr. Sewell has served the San Francisco Bay area as a house call doctor, he spends time with his patients to get to the root cause of their issues and concerns. He has worked with the elderly and continues in Internal Medicine with adult patients. Dr. Sewell's educational background includes Duke University BSE Biomedical/Electrical engineering; Georgetown University Masters in Biophysics and Physiology; Virginia Commonwealth University MD degree; California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, Internal medicine internship and residency. Dr. Sewell is versed in Spanish and is an expert in the field of Travel Medicine.

CLIFFORD SEWELL, MD: Hello. I'm Dr. Clifford Sewell. A brief message about the hemophilia. Hemophilia is a genetic disorder passed down from family member to family member. Historically, hemophilia is known as the illness of kings and queens. It seemed often in family members that are in incestual or inbreeding. Hemophilia is described as a bleeding disorder, more specifically, it's a disorder known for deficiency in some clotting factors. These clotting factors are responsible for forming clots along with platelets. In the coagulation system, we have platelets as well as clotting factors. In hemophilia, there is deficiency in one or more clotting actors. Now, you still do have platelets so hemophiliacs will make clots and eventually stop bleeding; however, the sign of bleeding in a hemophiliac can be quite serious. The treatment for hemophilia is clotting factor replacement. The clotting factor replacement is much more effective than it was in the years past due to cleaner blood supplies and a higher donor pool. Symptoms of hemophilia can include obviously increased bruising easily, to bleed in the gums, and nosebleeds, heavier periods. In hemophiliacs, any sort of cut will be difficult to have hemostasis or clotting.