If you want to keep your eyesight intact throughout your entire life, it is crucial to maintain good general health. In addition to avoiding direct sunlight and accidental injuries, good nutrition, regular exercise, and checkups can go a long way toward preventing many ocular health issues.
Regular visits to the eye doctor have many advantages beyond maintaining healthy eyes: an examination of the eye’s lens, retina, and optic nerve can identify several systemic diseases, including high blood pressure and diabetes, often before other symptoms manifest. An eye examination is one of the few exams in which eye doctors can look into the body without performing blood tests, invasive imaging, or surgery.
Medical Conditions and Eye Health
A significant number of patients are affected by a variety of eye problems. Some of these problems are associated with underlying medical conditions that have nothing to do with the eyes in the first place. Let’s look at a few different medical illnesses and how they might cause issues with one’s eyesight and overall eye health.
1. Diabetes
Diabetic retinopathy, according to a reputable eye center in Bloomington, Indiana, is a disorder that can develop in people who have had diabetes for an extended period and have been untreated. This disorder, associated with excessive blood sugar, causes the eye’s blood vessels to bleed onto the retina. This can lead to significant vision loss or even blindness in extreme cases. In addition, cataracts and glaucoma are two eye conditions more likely to occur in people with diabetes.
2. Hypertension
High blood pressure can cause significant damage to blood vessels in the same way that high blood sugar might. Because of the thickening of the retinal blood vessels brought on by hypertension, less blood can reach the retina.
Fluid collection under the retina, damage to the optic nerve, and macular edema can all arise from insufficient blood flow to the eye. Hypertensive retinopathy is the medical term for this issue. If you need an eye exam in Bloomington, IN, you can search the web for trusted facilities that cater to your needed examinations and procedures.
3. Multiple Sclerosis
The immune system damages the myelin sheath, which shields the optic nerve and facilitates the rapid and accurate transfer of visual info from the eyes to the brain. Inflammation of the optic nerve and fast vision loss ensues from the signaling disruption. Optic neuritis is the medical term for this condition.
The symptoms of this disorder include difficulty moving your eyes without pain, blurred vision, loss of color vision, a hole in the center of your vision, a headache, and, in extreme cases, blindness.
4. Autoimmune Conditions
The eyes are vulnerable to a wide range of autoimmune disorders. The immune system turns on its tissues, as seen in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Autoimmune disorders frequently manifest themselves initially with symptoms that affect the eyes.
Initially, a patient’s eyes may be red, itchy, or frequently dry. Patients may feel eye pain, sensitivity to light, changes in vision quality, or even vision loss if the illness is not detected or treated.
5. Thyroid Disease
In cases of a hyperactive thyroid, such as Graves’ disease, antibodies also target the cells in the area behind the eyes because their receptors are identical to thyroid cells. Graves’ disease affects the eyes and creates ophthalmopathy or orbitopathy.
Symptoms of the disorders mentioned above include blurred or double vision, itchy eyes, swollen eyelids, redness and inflammation of the conjunctiva, and proptosis. Compression of the optic nerve, inability to fully close the eye, corneal ulcers, and, in extreme circumstances, blindness can result from this condition.
