Comprehensive Eye Exams: What Health Issues Can They Detect?

It seems surprising, but your eye health can tell many things about you. It can reveal much about your health, to be exact. This is because the eyes let your doctor see your blood vessels, connective tissues, and nerves all over the body. This allows your doctor to easily catch the first signs of health issues anywhere in your body.

Your eye doctor can discover any underlying health issues you may have through a comprehensive eye exam. Seeing how many health problems a comprehensive eye exam can detect is surprising and incredible. Here are some common health risks an eye exam can detect.

Aneurysm

An aneurysm is a bubble in a blood vessel’s wall, causing it to weaken and possibly lead to a rupture or leak. It’s usually fatal when that happens. An eye exam can detect increased pressure in the brain, which may cause bleeding into the retina or the swelling of the optic nerve. This could manifest in a severe, one-sided headache, a typical sign of an aneurysm.

Brain Tumor

If you have been complaining of eye pain, it could be due to increased pressure in the brain. This increased pressure might be the result of a brain tumor. Another symptom is swelling at the back of the eyes, which the eye doctor can only see through the eye exam. Other signs you might experience include changes in pupil size, loss of vision in one eye, and double vision.

Heart Disease

Eye exams can detect heart and other cardiovascular conditions through the arteries seen in the eyes. Your eye doctor can see if you have clogged arteries before you even know you have a problem when they examine the carotid artery supplying blood to the brain. If those little plaque deposits in your carotid artery reach the brain, it can lead to a stroke.

High Blood Pressure

Bleeding in the eye is ordinarily harmless. It can happen when you sneeze or cough too hard. But it can also be due to high blood pressure. When your blood pressure is high, you may have a subconjunctival hemorrhage. It’s when tiny blood vessels leak blood in the white part of the eye. A swollen eye is also another possible sign you may have hypertension.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis doesn’t only affect the joints but the eyes as well. One of its most common symptoms is dry eye. It can also affect your eyes by causing sclera inflammation. The sclera is the white outer layer of the eyes. Inflammation conditions like rheumatoid arthritis can inflame the sclera due to collagen, which it is mostly made of.

Besides the five mentioned above, eye exams can detect the following health conditions:
 

• Diabetes

• Cancer of the blood, skin, and tissue

• Thyroid disorder

• Multiple sclerosis

• Parkinson’s disease

• Giant cell arthritis

• Lupus

• Medication toxicities

• Myasthenia gravis

• Sarcoidosis

• Sickle cell disease

• Sexually transmitted diseases

• Stroke

• Sjögren’s syndrome

• Vascular disease

• Vitamin A deficiency

The symptoms found during the eye exam don’t guarantee that you have a particular health condition. However, your eye doctor can ask your primary physician or a specialist for more testing. Comprehensive eye exams can catch both eye and general health issues early, which is vital to a better chance of successful treatment.

Get your eyes examined at Southwest Orlando Eye Care today. Schedule an appointment by calling or texting us at (407) 271-8931 or visiting our clinic in Orlando, Florida.