Why Seeing your Eye Doctor can Help Prevent Disease

An eye examination is very important because the eyes can tell the doctor what is going on in the human body even before other body organs begin to send out distress signals or before it is too late. Some professionals hold the eye examination with as much regard as a physical examination when it comes to determining the health of an individual. When your doctor starts to look at your eyes even when your vision has never been better, just know that he or she is looking for other health conditions that may be in their developmental stages.

Here are conditions that the eye doctor is likely to discover first if you visit him or her regularly:

1.       Thyroid disease – Graves’ disease or Thyroid disease results from a disorder of the immune system where the thyroid hormone is overproduced. A doctor will look at you and if he or she establishes that the protruding eyeballs are not normal, then he or she can assist in finding the correct course of treatment

2.       Diabetes – When a doctor looks at your eyes and discovers leaky blood vessels in the retina, then he or she will know that you are developing a condition called diabetic retinopathy. This form of bleeding is a symptom of type 2 diabetes. If an individual does not seek treatment for this condition, he or she can become blind. However, proper management of the condition will reduce the negative risks by up to 50%.

3.       Tumors – A tumor developing in any part of the body is never a pleasant thing, especially if it is cancerous. When a doctor looks at your eyes and discovers that your eyelids have an irregular shape or if they are drooping, this may be a sign of tumour development. Furthermore, if the field of vision of an individual keeps changing, then there are chances that an individual has a brain tumor.

4.       Hypertension – When a doctor looks at your eyes and discovers that the blood vessels have kinks, bends, or tears, he or she will immediately test you for high blood pressure. High blood pressure will damage an individual’s blood vessels and even cause someone to suffer a stroke, a heart attack, and other heart diseases.

5.       Autoimmune disorders – An autoimmune disorder is a condition that results from the immune system being either too active or remaining abnormally inactive. When the doctor looks at the eyes and discovers some inflammations, then he or she will proceed to test the likelihood of an autoimmune disease such as Lupus.

6.       Cancer – The eyes can show that a patient is suffering from cancer, and this early detection can save someone’s life. When a doctor notices that the structure of the eye is abnormal, most likely he or she will refer you to a skin cancer specialist. Furthermore, if the specialist discovers the presence of basal cell carcinomas on the eyelids, the condition is about to get very serious because it can spread to the brain and even become life threatening.

7.       High cholesterol – It is very important to have a healthy cholesterol intake to allow the body to continue in the creation of new and healthy cells; however, when cholesterol is too high it can lead to serious heart diseases. A doctor will detect that you have high cholesterol by looking at your eyes and discovering a yellowish ring on the cornea, or detect a yellowish appearance on the same.