The eyes are the windows to the action of your body’s nerves, blood vessels, and connective tissues. The eye is so sensitive that many conditions in your body will usually show their first symptoms in the eyes. This is so because the eye is the only body part where a doctor can look at the raw nature and action of blood vessels without cutting.

You need a comprehensive eye exam to identify health issues that manifest symptoms in the eyes. In a comprehensive eye exam, the eye doctor performs tests that allow them to look into the eye. They can observe the tiny blood vessels and structures at the back of the eye. It is here that many symptoms of often severe conditions usually manifest.

• Brain Tumor

Some tumors may cause an increase in intracranial pressure along with signs that may show up in the eyes. Uncontrolled brain pressure can lead to swelling of the back of the eye, impacting the optic nerve. The eye doctor will be able to spot the damage that the swelling is causing on the optic nerve. The tumor may also cause other changes like pupil size, double vision, or loss of side vision.

• Diabetes

Diabetes is a systemic condition that causes all types of changes throughout the whole body. One of the organs that first shows the signs of diabetes is the eyes, specifically the blood vessels in them.

You can have symptoms of the condition in your eyes even before you are diagnosed. The condition causes yellow fluids or blood to leak from the blood vessels into the eye. Early detection of this is essential to preserve vision and to start early management of the condition.

• Heart Disease

Heart disease can cause an eye stroke in the eye, which will appear in an OCT—optical coherence tomography—test results. The marks that show an eye stroke are common in healthy people, but they are much higher in people with heart disease.

• Hypertension

Another systemic disorder that affects the eyes’ structures is hypertension. Hypertension usually causes changes in the blood vessels at the back of the eye, like unusual bends or kinks. They may also cause bleeding from the impact of the increased blood pressure. Untreated high blood pressure leads to more vision-related complications that may cause vision loss.

• High Cholesterol

High cholesterol is often associated with older people, but even people under 40 can have the issue. If you are under 40 and notice a blue ring around the cornea, you may have high cholesterol levels. The condition may also cause structural changes in the retina’s blood vessels, a warning sign for a life-threatening stroke.

• Lupus

Lupus is an inflammatory disease that affects the eyes in two main ways:

• It may cause dry eye
• It causes swelling in different eye parts, like the sclera, the retina, or the middle layer

For more on what eye health can tell about overall health, visit Advance Eyecare Center PC at our office in Urbandale, Iowa. Call (515) 303-4488​​​​​​​ to book an appointment today.