High Blood Pressure: Your Eye’s Retina Can Show A Symptom Of The Condition

Suffering from high blood pressure is no joke. It requires constant monitoring, considering that the patient could go through a lot of physical manifestation the moment that the blood pressure goes up.

Many patients are able to control their blood pressure and prevent the condition from getting worse and lead to more serious ailments since they were able to detect the symptoms right away. Aside from the reading that a blood pressure monitor will show, or a visit to the doctor will reveal, you might want to check your eyes constantly. Your eyes can also show symptoms of having high blood pressure.

Hypertensive Retinopathy

According to a report in Express, there is a condition known as hypertensive retinopathy. This is a condition involving the retina or that tissue that you can find at the back of your eye. The retina is the one responsible for transforming light into nerve signals, which are then sent to the brain to be interpreted. So what does this delicate part of the eye have to do with blood pressure?

When your blood pressure increases, the walls of the blood vessels of the retina may start to become thick. When these thicken, the passage in the blood vessels will start to become narrow. Thus, it will now hinder or limit the flow of blood and prevent the right amount from reaching the retina.

There are cases when the retina would start becoming swollen because of this problem. As the condition continues, the blood vessels of the retina get damaged. This then limits the function of the retina, and it will start to put a lot of pressure on the optic nerve. When this happens, vision problems will start occurring.

In the worst cases, the patient can become blind. This condition is known in medical parlance as hypertensive retinopathy.

The Symptoms to Watch Out For

Hypertensive retinopathy could exhibit a number of symptoms. The most common symptom would be a limitation on the vision, swelling of the eye, experiencing double vision, as well as experiencing headaches.

What you can do is to keep your blood pressure under control. Diabetes is also a contributory factor, and it must likewise be kept at bay along with blood pressure. Keeping both your blood sugar and blood pressure within normal levels will be your best weapon against hypertensive retinopathy.