7 secrets your eyes might reveal about your health

If your eyes are the window to your soul, then you can get a peek at your health from that very window. Yes, you heard me right.

Your eyes have a way of warning you about potentially threatening health conditions and sometimes, only a look is enough. From diabetes to liver problems, comprehensive eye exams can detect health problems way before they start showing symptoms.

Now you probably won’t skip those crucial appointments with your optometrist. Here are the most common conditions your eyes can give you clues about.

Stress

Stress is hard to take. It’s a condition of your mind as well as your body. Your optic nerves give you a glimpse of your nervous system.

Your pupils respond to the brain’s signals. So, if you’re stressed, your pupils will dilate so your eyes could sense any threat in the outside environment. So, if your pupils are constantly dilated, it’s not only one of the signs of unhealthy eyes but also a potential problem in your brain.

Even eye twitches are your eye’s way of telling you that you are stressed or high on caffeine. The problem of eye twitch will go away as soon as your stress ends. But, if it doesn’t, see an eye doctor about it.

Screen light can also cause eye twitching as your eyes adjust to a lower level of focus. The longer you stare at a screen, the more likely you’ll experience eyelid twitching. Using blue light prescription glasses is the only way to avoid this problem if it’s due to screen time.

Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic health condition which means that once you have it, you have it for life. If your vision has become blurred all of a sudden, this could be myopia, cataracts or this could be a sign of diabetes.

So, after you’ve had a big meal, the blood sugar levels in your body will go up which will affect the delicate retinal vessels and the impact would be evident in your vision.

If you don’t control your blood sugar levels, this could lead to a problem called diabetic retinopathy which may cause vision loss. Thus, if you have diabetes, make sure you get an eye test each year.

If that’s a burden on your pocket, get your free eye test voucher from us and have an eye exam from our optometrists in our stores. Confirm your availability for the test and get a quick and easy eye test from us without spending a penny.

High Cholesterol

A white ring around the iris of the eye is often a sign of ageing. This condition is called corneal arcus in which tiny fat deposits grow on the boundary of your cornea.

But, if you are young and wondering why you are seeing a white circle around the cornea, then it must be a problem of high cholesterol. Do not let this problem go unchecked as high cholesterol can also lead to a stroke or kidney damage.

Stroke

During an eye exam, the doctor can spot changes that may even hint towards a more serious issue, say a stroke. People with the following eye-related symptoms should check themselves for this problem:

• Seeing floaters or grey spots in your field of vision
• Feeling pressure or pain in the eyes
• Blurry vision that grows worse in one part or all of one eye
• Vision loss that takes place gradually or suddenly

Liver Disease

If your eyes look yellow, it’s usually a sign of jaundice. It happens when the oxygen-carrying agents in your blood break down into bilirubin which is a pigment that your body produces when your liver is inflamed or damaged.

Bad diet, alcohol consumption and infection can cause damage to your liver. However, small yellow spots on the eye’s surface occur due to overexposure to UV rays. This problem could be prevented by using prescription sunglasses.

Brain Tumour

In rare cases, optometrists have also detected the symptoms of more severe life-threatening health problems such as brain tumours.

During an eye exam, an optometrist can come across a swollen optic nerve which is indicative of a tumour. This is why getting regular eye checkups every two years is important.

But, this condition cannot be diagnosed by an eye specialist. Thus, your doctor will refer you to a neurologist for thorough testing of your neurological system and diagnosing this problem.

High Blood Pressure

During an eye test, your optometrist will examine the blood vessels in your eyes. Thus, they may even spot the likelihood of high blood pressure before the symptoms become apparent.

If your ocular vessels get narrowed down or start leaking, there could be a possibility that you have high blood pressure.

Patients with this health condition could develop a problem known as hypertensive retinopathy. Its symptoms include:

• Reduced vision
• Bursting of blood vessels in the eye
• Eye swelling
• Double vision accompanied by headaches

Listen to your eyes as they could tell you a lot about your general health. Do not miss out on eye exams and if you already have a health condition that could affect your eyes, seek help from your eye doctor.