What Your Eyes Say About Your Health
The importance of a regular eye examination, often, is underrated. Having annual eye examination should be as routine as having a dental check-up every six months. Regular eye examinations are crucial to maintaining a healthy vision and can often detect major medical problems in the early stages of development, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, reports Sade Oguntola.

It was rather fascinating for Mr. Fatia Adeleye, a school teacher, to learn that eye examination can help to identify and recognise minor problems before they become threatening and serious. It was at an awareness meeting organised by his kinsmen as part of the town’s anniversary ceremony that he got the enlightenment.

“I knew getting your eyes checked was important, but I didn’t know it could shed light on so many other health concerns,” he said, adding, “If only, I had had that knowledge much earlier, may be I would have been able to take earlier steps to prevent my mother from dying blind.”

The eye is the window of the body through which it feels its way and enjoys the beauty of the world. When you look at someone’s face, you can even predict the person’s mood, all because the eyes are the windows of the body. This is what psychologists, swindlers and even some native herbalists use. The moment someone comes in, they look at the person’s face to know whether the person has a problem burdening him/her.

The eye, though small, comprises many parts; cornea, iris, pupil, retina, nerves and some other parts. Studying the different features of the eyes like iris, cornea, the shape of the pupil, the optic nerve head, conjunctiva, anterior chamber, the light reflex, amongst others, can go a long way to ascertaining the health status of the body and even predict diseases affecting it.

Health, also, can be observed through the eyes. Doctors often judge a person by the condition of his eyes. Eye examination, besides helping to seek to correct defects in one’s eyesight, is crucial to maintaining healthy vision, and detects major medical problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure in the early stages of development.

Dr. Gboyega Ajayi, an ophthalmologist at Ojolowo Eye Clinic, Veterinary, Mokola, Ibadan, declared that many people were not paying enough attention to their eye health, even though such simple steps such as a yearly eye examination, could detect the presence of many diseases in the body.

He declared that the eyes could reveal a lot, considering the fact that it is the only organ through which blood vessels can be examined directly to know the status of the cardiovascular and the neurological system. Every tissue and fluid type in the eye is a representative of every tissue and every fluid type in the rest of the body.

He emphasised that eye examinations were “even more important for people who are already using corrective lenses;” who might “assume they just need a different lense prescription, when they really have a more serious problem. With eye diseases and disorders, as with most health issues, early detection and treatment are often the keys to avoiding permanent problems.

Some of the existing health problems or an impending one that an eye examination can give, and their possible signs, include the following:

Anaemia: A pale eye indicates insufficient blood. Insufficient blood could be due to many reasons like blood disorder, bleeding, malaria, sign of pregnancy, cancers etc.

Jaundice: When the eyeballs are yellowish, it could mean either jaundice or liver diseases or other problems related to the blood like hepatitis.

Hypertension: If you look through the pupil (with an ophthalmoscope) into the interior part of the eye, you can detect a patient that is hypertensive, and guess the severity of the hypertension. Those suffering from blood shot eyes may be experiencing high blood pressure.

Diabetes: An insight into the eye can also detect diabetes and even the duration of the diabetes. The length of time the persons had suffered from this disease can be actualised. Diabetes affects the blood circulation in your retina (the back of your eye), which causes changes in the blood vessels. The changes occur slowly over many years, therefore, you probably won’t be aware of any difference until the problem becomes acute and your vision is affected.

Sickle cell disease: Though yellowness of the eyeball is common with all sickle cell patients, the study of the internal parts of the eye can still go on further to give the exact type, whether HSS or HSC very specifically.

Cancers: Even though the study of the features of the eye may not be able to categorically state where cancer is actually is in the body, however you can still detect them. These include cancer and tumour of the brain.

Nervous diseases: From the conjuctivita signs, nervous diseases like paralysis and trauma can be picked .

Muscle diseases: Muscle diseases like Myaesthenia gravis sometimes starts with the eyes, and the patients might have double vision and drooping of the eye which could indicate paralysis of some nerves. Also, continuous drooping of the eyelid could signify an auto-immune disorder, particularly thyroid diseases.

Glaucoma: When the eye experiences high blood pressure, it is referred to as glaucoma. It affects the whole body, and when such is left unattended to, can cause blindness. Those that are most at risk of glaucoma are diabetics, senior citizens, Afro-Americans, and those who are short-sighted in addition to people with family history of glaucoma.

River blindness: When eye lesions are noticed during eye examination, especially in people living near fast-flowing streams or rivers, river blindness remains one of the causes to be suspected.

HIV: Mere looking into the eye ball, a precise diagnosis of HIV virus is possible.

Pregnancy: While it is not specific for pregnancy, one can use it, in conjunction with other tests, to confirm pregnancy.

Drug abuse: Even medication used in excess like chloroquine can be diagnosed looking into the eye. Cases of drug addiction, and the type of drug addicted to, can easily be known even this way.

Syphilis: Syphilis is one of the sexually transmitted diseases, predictable through the study of the eye. There would be lesions on the iris.

Cataracts: A cataract is a clouding of the normally clear lens inside the eye. It can be compared to a window that is frosted or “fogged” with steam. The presence and extent of a cataract can be detected during a thorough eye examination. Most cataracts associated with aging, progress gradually over a period of years. However, other cataracts, especially in younger people and people with diabetes, may progress rapidly over a few months and cause a more dramatic worsening of vision.

How can I prevent problems with my eyes from developing?
• Keeping your blood sugar levels well controlled reduces your risk of developing eye diseases or delays the onset.

• Control your weight, your cholesterol levels and your blood pressure through diet and exercise.

• Have a regular appointment with your ophthalmologist at least once a year. It is much easier to stop eye disease from developing into something serious if it is treated in the early stages.



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