The eyes are often called the window to the soul, but it turns out they may also be windows for identifying other illnesses. FOX 9 News spoke with Dr. Brian Snyder, an optometrist, about how an eye exam can provide insight about your health.
There are clues the eyes can give about everything from a tumor to high cholesterol, arthritis and even diabetes. With regular monitoring, eye doctors can be the first to spot certain medical conditions and can usher patients for further evaluation, potentially leading to earlier diagnosis and treatment.
Clots in the tiny blood vessels of the retina can signal a risk for stroke, for example, and thickened blood-vessel walls along with narrowing of the vessels can signal high blood pressure. In some cases, examining the eye can help confirm some of the diagnoses or help differentiate disorders from each other.
Something that has been in the news recently has been people finding that after they take pictures of their child they don't see the normal "red eye" effect. Instead, the pupil looks white or cloudy. This can be the sign of a tumor.
A nurse made headlines after noticing the whiteness of the pupil on a picture of her friend's kid on Facebook. She wrote to the mother and possibly saved the child's life.
