High Blood Pressure & Eye Disease

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High blood pressure can cause eye disease. The blood vessels in the eyes can be damaged when a person suffers from high blood pressure. The impact is the area in the eye where images are focused. The tiny blood vessels that give blood to a person's eyes are vulnerable to high blood pressure, just like other blood vessels throughout the body. When high blood pressure is found in a person there are often changes in the eyes as well. These can be narrowing of the retinal arterioles, retinal swelling, retinal hemorrhaging, and retinal dilation.

In severe cases swelling of the optic nerve can occur. These symptoms can be controlled by the regulation of blood pressure. If gone unchecked the symptoms can lead to eye disease, which can range from mild to severe depending on how early on the high blood pressure is caught. When blood vessels in the eyes are damaged it is called hypertensive retinopathy. If high blood pressure has gone un-treated this can become very serious and cause irreversible damage to a person's eyesight. This is the main reason that a person should have regular checkups of their blood pressure, because unchecked it can lead to more serious diseases.

Some of the symptoms of hypertensive retinopathy are headaches, problems with vision, narrowing of blood vessels, oozing fluid from the blood vessels, spots on the retina, the optic nerve and macula are swollen, and there is bleeding on the back on the eye. The only treatment is to treat the high blood pressure itself. When fluid builds under the retina it is called choroidopathy. With choroidopathy the fluid builds up because the choroid has a leaky blood vessel, which can be a result of high blood pressure. This can lead to distortion of a person's vision and can cause vision-impairing scarring. High blood pressure can also affect the nerves in the eyes as well. This is called optic neurotherapy, which is a condition where the lack of blood flow causes the optic nerve to be damaged. The nerve cells in the eye can fail to work or die altogether, which can cause bleeding in the eye and even loss of vision. The main way to treat and prevent these types of eye diseases, as well as high blood pressure is with lifestyle changes.

A healthy diet is important in treating high blood pressure. The intake of sodium in a diet should be below 2,000 milligrams a day and the diet should consist of low fat dairy products and a good amount of fruit and vegetables. Smoking should be avoided altogether as it can lead to high blood pressure. In order to prevent and treat high blood pressure exercise is important, even 30 minutes of walking each day can help keep high blood pressure at bay. Our eyesight is very important; in order to lessen the chances of damaging it your high blood pressure should be kept in check. A healthy lifestyle and regularly monitoring of your blood pressure is important to preventing both high blood pressure and eye diseases.

Sources:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/HI00062

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=41998

http://medicalreporter.health.org/tmr0695/eye0695.html