How Can Hemochromatosis Be Prevented?

You can't prevent primary, or inherited, hemochromatosis. However, not everyone who inherits hemochromatosis genes develops symptoms or complications of the disease. In those who do, treatments can keep the disease from getting worse.

Treatments include therapeutic phlebotomy, iron chelation therapy, dietary changes, and other treatments. For more information, go to "How Is Hemochromatosis Treated?"

People who have hemochromatosis (or a family history of it) and are planning to have children may want to consider genetic testing and counseling. Testing will help show whether one or both parents have faulty HFE genes. A genetic counselor also can help figure out the likelihood of the parents passing the faulty genes on to their children.

Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health