In many cases, diseases in other organs of the body will manifest as abnormalities in the eyes. In such instances, the eyes may not be diseased at all and may still be healthy, according to health expert Medical News Today (UK).
Regular eye exams can help detect many serious conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
Therefore, regular eye checkups are very important, especially for older adults.
During the examination, the doctor not only discovered eye abnormalities such as cataracts and glaucoma, but also many other diseases, some of which were life-threatening.
Common eye conditions that can cause abnormal eye symptoms include:
Blood pressure
According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, many signs of high blood pressure can be detected through a simple eye exam. Frequent redness of the eyes due to ruptured blood vessels under the conjunctiva is a common sign of high blood pressure.
In fact, high blood pressure is a trigger and a contributing factor to the progression of glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration. High blood pressure also causes hypertensive retinopathy, which damages the blood vessels in the retina.
Diabetes
Diabetes is one of the diseases that can seriously impact eye health. If left uncontrolled, diabetes can cause retinopathy, macular edema, cataracts, and glaucoma. All of these can lead to permanent vision loss.
If a patient experiences blurred vision, spots, flickering, blind spots, distorted vision, difficulty reading, or inability to see details, they should see a doctor as soon as possible. It's possible they have diabetes but are unaware of it.
Brain tumor
Brain tumors are among the most dangerous diseases a person can contract. The tumor can increase intracranial pressure and affect the eyes. Patients may experience swelling behind the eyes, causing changes in the eye that an ophthalmologist can detect.
If the tumor is large, it can compress the optic nerve, leading to vision problems such as loss of vision in one eye, double vision, or changes in pupil size.
Rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease. The immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues in the joints, leading to inflammation, swelling, and pain.
Many signs of rheumatoid arthritis can be detected by an ophthalmologist during an eye exam. Research evidence suggests that if a patient experiences dry eyes or persistent eye pain for several days, occurring at least twice a year, it could be due to silently developing rheumatoid arthritis, according to Medical News Today.
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