A Simple Comprehensive Eye Test Can Identify Potential Heart Disease

“Eyes are the window to the soul”. In alternative medicine, Iridology claims information about the patient systemic health can be studied by simply identifying and comparing patterns, colors, and other characteristics of the Iris. Iridologists employ Iris Charts comprises dividing the iris into zones corresponding to specific parts of the human body. The iris is studied the same way a fingerprint is studied. In medicine, and particularly in ophthalmology, the advancement of the technology of diagnostic tests has been remarkable during the past couple of decades. The Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has provided tremendous help in retinal diagnostics and is proving to be the “holy grail of comprehensive eye tests”; a term previously employed to the visual field perimetry.

In a previous post, we emphasized the findings in recent research revealing the association of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataract, and diabetes to the increased risk of dementia. The risk of dementia turned out to be higher for individuals with both ophthalmic and systemic conditions than for those with an ophthalmic or systemic condition only. Another study indicated that by using OCT, eye doctors can detect functional and morphologic changes in the retina of carriers of familial Alzheimer’s disease at an early stage. Findings from both studies suggest that OCT and retinal vascular parameters help in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease prior to the onset of cognitive decline.

Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the world. Early diagnosis and treatment can help prevent potential stroke or heart attack. An eye fundus test is the only non-invasive test that allows doctors to observe the action of blood vessels, nerves, and connecting tissues. Many systemic conditions can be detected through a comprehensive eye test. Much like an eye doctor can detect signs of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, with the help of an OCT early signs of heart disease can appear and can be detected by an ophthalmologist. By examining the retina through an OCT, eye doctors can spot marks called retinal ischemic perivascular lesions which are eye strokes that happen when the eye is deprived of blood flow and oxygen, causing cells to die. Research findings revealed that those marks are present in low numbers in healthy people while for people with heart disease, marks tend to have a far greater number.