Regular drinkers are prone to alcoholic cirrhosis, where the body’s balance is disrupted and they become ill. Similarly, long-term excessive drinking can cause repeated fatty degeneration, necrosis and regeneration of liver cells, eventually leading to liver fibrosis and cirrhosis. According to the progress of alcoholic liver disease we divide alcoholic liver disease into five stages: mild alcoholic liver disease, alcoholic fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, alcoholic liver fibrosis and alcoholic cirrhosis. Let’s understand the characteristics of each stage of the development of alcoholic liver disease together. 1.Mild alcoholic liver disease At this stage, the biochemical, imaging and histopathological examinations of the liver are basically normal or slightly abnormal. 2.Alcoholic fatty liver This stage meets the criteria of fatty liver from imaging diagnosis, clinical symptoms are mostly mild, jaundice may appear, glutamic aminotransferase, glutamic oxalacetic aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin are slightly abnormal. There are varying degrees of hepatomegaly, with liver weight often reaching 2000-2500g, or even 3000g or more (normal 1200-1500g). The liver is yellowish in color with blunt margins. Microscopically most patients have large vesicular lipid changes, which in themselves do not cause perisinusoidal fibrosis, but about 31% have combined mild to moderate hepatic fibrosis. The prognosis is good if the patient adheres to abstinence from alcohol, a low-fat, high-protein diet supplemented by pharmacological therapy. It has been reported that after 1-4 months of strict abstinence from alcohol, the lipid changes can disappear completely. Alcoholic hepatitis can be asymptomatic but usually accompanied by non-specific gastrointestinal symptoms, such as lack of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, pain in the liver area, etc. 25% of patients with serious liver damage may have fever, jaundice, elevated white blood cells, hepatomegaly, elevated serum transaminases, and liver failure or hepatic encephalopathy. The characteristic microscopic changes of alcoholic liver disease are hepatocyte necrosis. 4, alcoholic liver fibrosis All types of chronic alcoholic liver disease are accompanied by varying degrees of liver fibrosis, alcoholic liver fibrosis as an independent type has only been adopted by some scholars in the last decade or so. Chronic alcoholism, the direct toxic effects of acetaldehyde on hepatocytes, and by aggravating the metabolic disorders of hepatocytes, cause alcoholic liver disease often form a more unique perisinusoidal fibrosis, terminal venous fibrosis, and the development of lesions can form fibrosis as well as cirrhosis. As a result, alcoholic liver fibrosis can be accompanied by no or only mild alcoholic hepatitis lesions, so it is classified as a separate type of alcoholic liver disease. 5.Alcoholic cirrhosis often occurs in people who drink a lot of alcohol for a long time. The weight of the liver in early and middle stage alcoholic cirrhosis is about 1800g. Alcoholic cirrhosis is characterized by small nodular cirrhosis and enlarged liver, and its clinical manifestations are similar to those caused by other causes of cirrhosis. It may be accompanied by manifestations of other organ damage due to chronic alcoholism, as well as alcohol-related neuropsychiatric disorders and alcohol withdrawal syndrome. The incidence of alcoholic liver disease has been on a significant upward trend, which also forces us to pay attention to the characteristics of each stage of alcoholic liver disease in order to prevent and properly treat it. The triggering of alcoholic liver disease is largely related to our daily lifestyle, so we should still try to not drink alcohol or drink less to prevent suffering from such diseases and take our own health as a priority.