If you’re looking to preserve your vision throughout your life, it’s crucial to maintain a healthy general state of health. Alongside staying away from direct sunlight and accidental injuries, good nutrition, regular exercise, and exams can aid in keeping eye health problems at bay.
Regular visits to an eye doctor can provide numerous benefits beyond the maintenance of healthy eyes. A thorough examination of the lens, retina, and optic nerve can identify several chronic diseases affecting the whole body, including high blood pressure and diabetes, usually before any other symptoms occur. Eye exams are a few tests where eye doctors can examine the body without undergoing tests for blood, invasive imaging, or surgery.
Medical Conditions and Eye Health
A large number of patients are affected by a variety of eye problems. A few of these issues are associated with underlying medical conditions that have nothing to do with the eyes in the initial instance. Let’s look at different medical illnesses and how they affect one’s eyesight and overall health.
1. Diabetes
Diabetic retinopathy is a disorder that can manifest in patients who have been suffering from diabetes for longer than a time and who have been untreated. This disorder, caused by high blood sugar, causes the eye’s blood vessels to bleed onto the retina. This can result in significant vision loss or perhaps blindness in the most extreme cases. Also, cataracts and Glaucoma are eye diseases that are more common for people who have diabetes.
For facilities that can provide long-term care of your eyes, you can search for the most reputable facility in your area and book a scheduled appointment online.
2. Hypertension
High blood pressure can cause significant damage to blood vessels in the same way high blood sugar can. Because of the thickening of the retinal blood vessels brought on by hypertension, less blood can be delivered to the retina.
Fluid collection under the retina, damage in the optic nerve, and macular edema can result from insufficient oxygen supply to your eye. Hypertensive retinal disease is the name used by doctors for this issue.
3. Multiple Sclerosis
The immune system fights against the myelin sheath, which protects the optic nerve and facilitates the swift and accurate transfer of signals from the eyes to the brain. Optic nerve inflammation and fast vision loss ensue from the interruption in signaling. Optic neuritis refers to the medical name used for the condition.
The symptoms of this condition include difficulty moving your eyes without discomfort, blurred vision, visual loss and a gap at the center of your vision, headache, and, in extreme cases, complete blindness.
4. Autoimmune Conditions
The eyes are at risk of an array of diseases of the autoimmune system. The immune system can attack its tissues, which is seen in the condition known as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Autoimmune disorders typically manifest at first by causing symptoms in the eyes.
The eyes of a patient might be itchy, red, or dry. Patients may experience eye pain or sensitivity to light, changes in vision quality, or even loss of sight if the illness is not detected or treated. You can visit a facility that can provide dry eye services to correct your disorder.
5. Thyroid Disease
In the case of hyperactive thyroid like Graves’ disease, the antibodies are also directed at the cells of the area behind the eyes because their receptors are identical to thyroid cells. Graves is a condition that affects the eyes, causing ophthalmopathy or orbitopathy.
Symptoms of the disorders described above are blindness or double vision eyelids that are swelling, redness, inflammation of the conjunctiva, and proptosis. The optic nerve can be compressed, the inability to entirely reduce the pupil, corneal ulcers, and, in extreme circumstances, blindness could result from this condition.
