Jonathan Wilhoite Blog: Never Ignore Eye Symptoms, It Can Be Dangerous to Your Health

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Never Ignore Eye Symptoms, It Can Be Dangerous to Your Health

http://feeds.wordpress.com/1.0/comments/nutritionclubca.wordpress.com/1946/

http://ifttt.com/images/no_image_card.png

Medical experts agree that you should never ignore eye symptoms as it could mean that your body is currently experiencing some sort of health condition that you may not be aware of. You might be occasionally seeing some stars floating in your eyes but simply shrug it off as a momentary episode, but in fact, could be something that could lead up to a debilitating disease.

Never ignore eye symptoms, no matter how little they may be

According to the Center for Disease Control, almost half the population of American adults who are considered to be at risk of mission loss did not visit an ophthalmologist in the past 12 months. There are also 35 percent of adults in the US who avoid visits to their eye doctor because they feel their vision is fine and therefore do not need an eye exam.

In fact, the eyes do not only measure the quality of one’s vision, but it also provides vital information to doctors about your overall health condition. This is true with many ailments like high cholesterol levels, diabetes, high blood pressure, infectious diseases or even an autoimmune disorder, which may people have discovered after having their eyes checked.

They eyes are the windows to the body

“The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but they can also tell us about a lot of systemic diseases, and the severity of those diseases,” says Dr. Suber Huang, chief executive of Retina Center of Ohio in Cleveland and chair of the National Institutes of Health National Eye Health Education Program Steering Committee.

“Anything that is new in terms of a change in your vision could be potentially worrisome,” says Huang, who was also a past president of the American Society of Retina Specialists.

Floaters and flashes

Once you start to see small gnat-like strips with occasional flashes of light, then you need to see an opthalmologist quick, as it could be an indication of posterior vitreous detachment or PVD.

PVD usually comes with age when the gel-like substance in the eye called the vitreous, begins to shrink and pull away from the retina. It does not hurt but can induce anxiety , but this condition, once checked early on, can be addressed with a quick routine in a doctor’s office with a laser apparatus.

Read teary eyes

This could be a symptom of keratitis which is an infection of the cornea. This can be treated once detected early on, but can potentially cause loss of vision when ignored.

Double vision

This is never a good thing which can be a problem with the cornea. Worse, it could also be an indicator for a neurological disorder, an autoimmune disease or a serious organ problem.

Unequal pupil size

Also called anisocoria, should not be ignored as it could be a symptom for a tumour, aneurysm , brain infection or even an early sign of a stroke attack.