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If you have questions or comments about this story, please email Heart Association News StoriesĪmerican Heart Association News covers heart disease, stroke and related health issues. If it's uncontrolled over years, it's going to cause damage later in life." "People can feel absolutely fine, but high blood pressure has a cumulative effect. "It's so important because of the silent nature of this problem," he said. Knowing the risks of high blood pressure, White said, keeps him vigilant. "They tell me, 'Look, I just don't like going to the doctor.' But their eyes are a problem, so they'll come to us." "Some people don't go for a routine checkup every year," he said.
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White said many people would be surprised how many of his patients rarely see another doctor, or if they do, don't always follow medical advice or don't take their blood pressure medication. These are things that can impact their lives significantly, and we have a responsibility for their overall health."īut doesn't every medical checkup start with a blood pressure check? And doesn't every pharmacy have a machine to measure it yourself? "We have to look at the entire person and the whole picture. "You're not just a pair of eyeballs walking into an exam room," he said. That increased risk leaped to 137 percent for those with moderate or severe hypertensive retinopathy.Īlthough more research is needed to confirm the findings regarding stroke risk, White has no doubt about the crucial role of eye doctors to educate patients about the need to control blood pressure. They found that those with a mild form of the condition had a 35 percent greater risk of stroke. Researchers checked about 2,900 patients with high blood pressure for hypertensive retinopathy, then tracked them for an average of 13 years. "We try to inform them about the unique opportunity we have to look at these blood vessels in the eye."Ī 2013 study reported in the journal Hypertension underscored the point. Why are you checking my blood pressure?'" he said. "Sometimes people will say, 'I'm just here to get my glasses. That is why detecting high blood pressure early – and treating it with diet, exercise and medication – is crucial, and why White says eye doctors are on the front lines of the battle. Similarly, high blood pressure may not reveal itself for decades before causing a heart attack or stroke, which earns its grim description as the "silent killer." But ultimately, high blood pressure can result in hypertensive retinopathy, blood vessel damage causing blurred vision or loss of sight choroidopathy, a buildup of fluid under the retina that can distort or impair vision or optic neuropathy, a blood flow blockage that can kill nerve cells and cause vision loss. Vision symptoms may not show up for years.
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And that can cause a whole range of vision issues." "When it gets really bad, we'll see some of the blood vessels start to leak, we'll see some hemorrhaging. They'll push on each other and cross, like two hoses in a confined space. "The blood vessels in the retina can become a little more stiff and hardened. "We can see changes due to vascular conditions caused by diabetes or hypertension," said White, an optometrist with Baylor Scott & White Health in Temple, Texas. He's searching for clues indicating the effects of high blood pressure, or hypertension, and what he finds could help prevent heart attacks, strokes and other serious health problems far beyond the eye. William White shines a bright light in his patient's eye, he's looking for more than just vision problems. National Hypertension Control Initiative.Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine.Pets and Your Health / Healthy Bond for Life.