They say your eyes are the windows to your soul… but did you also know that your eyes can also be a very accurate window to your health? For example, healthcare providers can use the eyes to diagnose cardiovascular diseases, hypertension disease, glaucoma, diabetes, and can even indicate cholesterol problems.

Hypertension disease is a major problem for many Americans, and is just another name for high blood pressure. Your eye doctor can sometimes diagnose this dangerous condition when doing a routine eye exam, which is why it’s so important to avoid missing regular check-ups—not just with your eye doctor but with primary healthcare providers, as well.

Your optometrist or optician can also diagnose conditions other than diabetes and hypertension disease; ocular problems like glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration can also be revealed by the eyes of course.

And it’s not just the eyes themselves that can show health problems and conditions: Your eyelashes, eyelids and eyebrows can also reveal hypothyroidism, styes (or a rare cancer), “cholesterol bumps” can signal dangerous high cholesterol (they are simply fatty deposits on the eyelid), migraines and ocular migraines, seasonal allergies, liver diseases, Graves’ disease, stroke, autoimmune disorders (specifically Sjogren’s syndrome), Bell’s palsy, and even the skin disorder rosacea.

The importance of keeping regular appointments with both your eye doctor and regular family practitioner is of course to keep your health in check, and to make sure that if you do have any conditions or diseases, that they are treated promptly.

Photo © rocketjim54

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