changed my specs recently. The optician told me he could see cholesterol in my eyes on examination. He could also detect raised blood pressure. Now, I know I am being treated for atherosclerosis with various blood thinners & antihypertensives try to lead a healthy life. My eyesight dosent concern me at present. Should I be worried
Hi Karry
i have never heard anyone who claims to see cholesterol in eyes, it would be laughable if it wasn't serious, in actual fact it's a ridiculous statement.
As far as also detecting high blood pressure I'm also at a loss as to how an optician can see this?..........both statements are unbelievable.
I have raised eye pressure and have Duotrav eye drops daily to keep it low to prevent Glucoma developing. This is eye hypertension and I can only assume your optician tested your eye pressure and found raised pressure ( hypertension) if that's the case they shouldn't have simply stated they can see high blood pressure, it's not the same thing.
please don't worry if anything un toward was occurring with your eyesight then surely you would have been referred to a specialist.
Well, it is correct to a certain degree. Of course, an ophthalmologist can't see neither cholesterol nor hypertension, it would be ridiculously.
But the eye is the only place in the body where the ophthalmologist can see vessels. He can see the narrowing of blood vessels due to developing atherosclerosis. Moreover he can see when vessels are stretched like a wire due to the increased pressure (not the eye). It is believed that that state vessels of the eye are in the same condition as vessels of all body.
So the doctor can only assume that the patient has an increased level of holeserol and/or increased pressure by examination of retinal vessels.
Roverr, he did say "raised pressure in the eye", maybe not blood pressure. He definitely said he could detect cholestrol and suggested I mention it to my g/p on my next visit. They did a hearing test on the same visit & told me I had failed it as i was missing some signals. I get along fine in my daily life. Anyone who knows me even my children & g/children dont think I have a hearing problem
Karry, "raised pressure in the eye" is not the same thing as general high pressure a.k.a. hypertension. It can lead to glaucoma and can be dangerous for your vision (See Sonya10 comment). So if I were you I would follow all the recommendations of your ophthalmologist.
As to probably raised cholesterol level I can just repeat what I said above - the ophthalmologist can see just the narrowing of blood vessels and that's it. But I am not going to argue with a professional since I am not physician. Actually it doesn't matter. Your g/p definitely should perform some standard blood analyzes and only after that it is possible to discuss the subject, taking into account all other factors like age, general health state etc.
If you don't have serious problems in your daily life and your doctor said you don't have diseases associated with impaired hearing just forget it! Most likely it is a light hearing loss associated with age relative to all the people and it is not a problem.
But remember that I am not a doctor! 