Are the eyes the windows to detecting metabolic issues?

Everyone needs to have a yearly eye exam, just to make sure that the health of their eyes is being taken care of, but comprehensive eye exams could be way more important than you think. A new study has found that our yearly eye exams can do much more than tell us if our sight is okay, it can also let us know if we have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and even diabetes.

The study was conducted by the Columbus Research Foundation, an organization dedicated to advances in medical care for the Western Georgia-Eastern Alabama area, and Vision Service Plan, the nation's largest provider of eye care coverage. The study found that a whopping 98 percent of patients who had corneal arcus also had metabolic issues. Corneal arcus is a grayish-white ring occurring in the periphery of the cornea due to a lipid infiltration of the corneal stroma.

The study involved 2,000 patients and found that patients with corneal arcus had high rates of metabolic disease. Sixty-four percent of patients with corneal arcus had high blood pressure, 66 percent had a high body mass index, and 21 percent had high cholesterol. In addition, almost 90 percent had high blood sugar – a number so high it cannot be overlooked.

In light of this study, more research will be done to determine the link between corneal arcus and metabolic conditions, especially corneal arcus and high blood sugar. The study suggests that comprehensive eye exams could be used for metabolic condition screenings.





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