Doctor Notices Something Odd on David Beckham’s Ear – Issues a Serious Health Alert

David Beckham, one of the biggest names in sports from his era, has apparently caught the attention of a doctor in an unexpected way.

A cardiologist has pointed out something concerning about soccer star David Beckham’s health. He noticed a diagonal crease on Beckham’s right earlobe, often called “Frank’s Crease.”

Research suggests this crease can be a sign of atherosclerosis, where fatty buildup clogs up the blood vessels.

The doctor, Rokas Šerpytis from Lithuania, decided to dig into Beckham’s family background and discovered a history of serious heart problems.

“I’m not about to pick up the phone and quiz David Beckham on his checkups,” the cardiologist said. “But checking out his parents’ history was telling.”

He googled “heart attack” along with “Beckham’s dad” and found an old article: back in 2007, the footballer rushed home to England because his 59-year-old father had suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital.

Reports from September 26, 2007, said Beckham Sr. had surgery to clear his blocked arteries, and he was stable afterward.

Šerpytis’s observation comes from a 1973 study where this earlobe thing—officially a diagonal earlobe crease (DELC)—was first noted in 20 patients by Dr. Sanders T. Frank.

A more recent 2021 study from Oxford called DELC a “dermatological marker for coronary artery disease” and even a “useful clinical sign” for it.

They described it as a crease running backward from the tragus—that little flap of cartilage at the ear canal’s entrance—at about a 45-degree angle across the earlobe to the edge of the outer ear.

But the paper was clear: it’s not a slam-dunk connection.

Not everyone buys into it, though. Dr. Paul D. Thompson, the chief cardiologist emeritus at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, isn’t convinced.

In an interview, he mentioned it came up back in med school, but “I don’t think serious preventive cardiologists give it much credence,” he explained. “I don’t.”

Talking to Bored Panda, the doc—who writes on Substack under 500 Rules of Cardiology—said it was mentioned during his training from 1973 to 1975, but he never saw it as a big deal.

“I don’t check for it, don’t note it in patient files, nothing like that. There are way better ways to spot issues, like the standard tests,” he said about his diagnostic approach.

From his long career, Thompson hasn’t seen a real link between the crease and heart trouble.

“I also can’t think of a solid biological reason why it’d matter. I could be off base, but that’s my take,” he added.

David Beckham hit the big 5-0 this year, so yeah, it’s probably time to keep a closer eye on his health.

About 20% of folks under 40 have this earlobe crease, jumping to 75% in people over 60. But according to the CDC, only around 10% of them actually deal with heart disease.

It might not be a full-blown emergency, but Šerpytis still urges Beckham: “He’s 50 now, the perfect age to really focus on his health and manage any risks.”