Hypertension and Eye

Last week in class I learned about hypertension, or high blood pressure.  High blood pressure is when it increases the work the heart has to do to pump blood to all areas of the human body. Due to the heart’s workload, it can cause heart attacks, strokes, kidney dysfunctions, and many other life-threatening circumstances. Amongst the many other unhealthy conditions, there is vision problems and blindness. Changes in vision can occur because pressure in the blood vessels can cause them to rupture or bleed. In addition, the optic nerve (the nerve that sends impulses to nerve tracts) may end up swelling. Hypertension can harm the retinal blood vessels that provide for the eye.  When this happens, it is called hypertensive retinopathy.  The blood vessels turn stiff due to the massive pressure, causing them rupture and overflow the retina with blood (Retinopathy - forms, symptoms and treatment). You may have symptoms of headaches, blurry vision, and a few others.  I found this interesting because I have always thought of high blood pressure only directing affecting the heart since the heart is major organ that is involved with hypertension. Reading more about this harmful condition helped me to remember that blood vessels encompass our entire body and we must take heed of what we do to one part of the body because more than likely it can affect another area of our bodies.

http://www.beltina.org/health-dictionary/retinopathy-forms-diabetes-symptoms-treatment.html