The eyes are the mirror of the soul and now also of your health
It says popular wisdom that The eyes are the mirror of the soul, but now they can also indicate if we suffer from any disease such as diabetes, hypertension, thyroid and liver problems, and some cancers.
And is that beyond the visual diseases that affect the eyes properly, there are others that leave their traces in them. Thus, some silent diseases, those that do not produce symptoms, can be detected during periodic ophthalmological examinations. Therefore, this is one more reason to pay attention to the experts and go periodically to 'review the eyes'.
According to Dr. David Antolín, medical director of Clinilaser, "the eyes are a good window for the detection of diseases for the easy accessibility and innocuousness of the tests to which we can submit them to diagnose them ".
A signal in the eye for each disease
1. What can be seen in the retina? Diabetes, hypertension and cancer
The retina is a very powerful indicator of certain pathologies. Thus, when affected by high levels of sugar, there is probably diabetes. But it can also present hemorrhages and narrowed blood vessels when we have high blood pressure. "And although it is less frequent, we can also detect a lung carcinoma when we see the appearance of a mole or spot on the retina, and when this is the case we ask for studies that confirm the suspicion of finding a choroidal metastasis of the tumor." notes Dr. Antolin.
2. What is detected in adult strabismus? Autoimmune diseases and tumors
People who have not suffered strabismus since childhood and who suffer from this disease for the first time should be done other studies because it is often associated with certain diseases, such as Graves-Basedow disease (autoimmune disease that causes hyperthyroidism), Myasthenia Gravis or tumors of the central nervous system (first symptoms are usually eyelid drooping and double vision).
3. What does an alteration of the optic nerve tell us? Multiple sclerosis
"Demyelinating diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis can be detected by an episode of optic neuritis, it is an inflammation of the optic nerve that sometimes we can not detect them in the fundus, but the alteration of the pupils and in the vision of the colors (dyschromatopsia) ) in addition to mild blurred vision and minimal pain when moving the eyes, can help us to diagnose "indicates the expert.
4. What does a yellow color indicate in the sclera? Liver diseases
More obvious are the symptoms associated with diseases of the liver and even the gallbladder, since the jaundice produced by a high bilirubin stains the sclera yellow. "Even Wilson's disease, difficult to diagnose because of symptoms similar to other liver diseases, can be detected in almost half of those affected by the presence of a ring in the cornea, called Kayser-Fleischer," says the ophthalmologist. This hepato-lenticular degeneration, consequence of a congenital alteration of the copper metabolism, present in our diet, originates a progressive accumulation of this metal in practically all the tissues of the organism, especially in the liver, the brain, the cornea and the kidneys.
5. What is the tremor in one of the eyelids? Stress
Stress can also give the face through the eyes. The tremor in one of our eyelids (involuntary movement of Muller's muscle) or the inflammation of the eyeballs are some of the symptoms. "Even for its cause, we could get to see blurry or distorted and to lose vision in a momentary and sudden way, the reason is due to a central serous choroidopathy, caused by an inflammation of the macula. It requires ophthalmological treatment in most cases, but it warns us that the stress we suffer has reached too high levels and that we should monitor ", explains the Clinilaser expert.
6. What do the inflamed eyes hide? Renal, thyroid or bowel pathologies.
Swollen eyes can also be caused by diseases of the sinuses, thyroid, Crohn's disease, etc. "If the patient comes with a palpebral edema of both eyes or eyeballs in proptosis (protruding eyes), we also associate it with other hormonal disorders or with renal pathologies," concludes Dr. David Antolín.
Marina Berrio
Advice: Dr. David Antolín, ophthalmologist and medical director of Clinilaser
