The eyes are truly the window to the soul, as well as a number of health issues. One of them is the effect of hypertension. High blood pressure can have a significant impact on your eyes, especially since they are the home of delicate blood vessels that are highly sensitive to changes in blood pressure. Some of the ways hypertension can affect your eyes are listed here:
Retinopathy
High blood pressure can damage the blood vessels that supply blood to the retina, resulting in a condition known as retinopathy. This condition is characterized by blurry vision, bleeding in the eye, and even complete vision loss.
Choroidopathy
In this condition, fluid accumulates under the retina and can cause distorted vision or scars that impair vision.
Optic neuropathy
If your optic nerve experiences damage associated with high blood pressure, this condition is known as optic neuropathy. This condition may cause bleeding in the eye and loss of vision.
Glaucoma
Hypertension is associated with glaucoma, a common eye disease that is the leading cause of irreversible blindness around the world. More than 2.2 million people in the United States have glaucoma. The combination of hypertension and diabetes is associated with an increased risk of glaucoma: people with hypertension alone have a 17 percent increased risk for glaucoma, while those with diabetes alone have a 35 percent increased risk. People with both diabetes and hypertension have a 48 percent increased risk of developing open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the eye disease. Like hypertension, open-angle glaucoma is a condition that typically does not show symptoms, at jeast not until the disease has progressed. Therefore, if you have high blood pressure it’s important to have your eyes examined regularly and tested for glaucoma by an eye specialist.
