What your eyes can reveal about your heart health
The eyes are the window to the … heart? It’s true. In fact, your eyes can say a lot about your whole cardiovascular system.
When eye doctors look deep into a patient’s eyes, they can see a lot more than just vision-related problems. They also can spot early warning signs of heart disease, and even stroke.
The main reason? Eyes are fed by many blood vessels (including capillaries and arteries) that are so tiny that they are often the first to be affected by cardiovascular problems, such as congestive heart failure (CHF). Keeping up with regular eye exams can help your doctor catch problems early. Here are two of the key questions your eyes can help answer.
Do I have high blood pressure?
The link between high blood pressure and heart disease is well known. It can cause damage to blood vessels, arteries, and the heart muscle itself, increasing the risk of a heart attack, heart failure, or stroke.
Fortunately, by looking at the blood vessels of the retina (located in the back of the eye), an eye doctor can detect changes that may signal future problems with blood pressure. Some of the early warning signs of high blood pressure that eye doctors can detect include:
- A narrowing of the arteries
- Bleeding and/or fluid leakage
- Inflammation behind the retina
- Optic nerve damage
- Spots on/in the eye
Am I at risk of a stroke?
Medications your way
Your eyes are part of the brain, so they can also serve as an early warning system for a stroke. A stroke happens when a blood vessel that feeds the brain gets clogged or bursts. Sometimes, a similar type of blood flow disruption happens in the blood vessels that feed the retina, or the optic nerve. This is known as an “eye stroke.”
Because eye stroke has been associated with a future brain-related stroke, it is essential for a patient with this diagnosis to seek immediate testing at a stroke center.
Bottom line: It’s wise to visit your eye doctor on a regular basis. Yes, they’ll check your vision, but what they find in the process might be even more important.
