14 Things Your Eyes Can Tell You About Your Health (If You Know What Look For)
Did you know that your eyes can say a lot about your health? Learning about the signs and symptoms of different eye problems can help you seek immediate medical help and prevent larger health issues in your body.
Here are things your eyes say about your health and you can notice them just by looking in your eyes:
1. Disappearing Eyebrows
If you notice that a third of your eyebrows fall out, it may indicate a thyroid disease that can be either due to overactive thyroid gland or underactive thyroid gland.
Thyroid hormones are important for the production of hair. So, if you start noticing the thinning of eyebrows and uneven brow hair loss, or early greying, then it’s a sign of thyroid problem.
2. A Stye That Won’t Go Away
A small, raised, often reddish bump along the inner or outer eyelid margin is called a stye. If it stays of more than three months or it keeps re-occurring in the same area, it indicates that you are suffering from rare c.a.n.c.e.r called sebaceous gland carcinoma.
A c.a.n.c.e.r.o.u.s cyst mimics a stye and is also characterized by the loss of eyelashes around the stye.
3. Burning Eyes, Blurry Vision While Using a Computer
This is commonly known as the “computer vision syndrome” (CVS). Eyestrain occurs due to the lack of contrast on a computer screen, and the extra work involved in focusing on pixels of light. This causes the dryness of the eyes as the ability to produce lubricating tears decreases.
This results in eye irritation, blurred vision, and discomfort. People who wear glasses or contact lens or binge watch Netflix are at higher risk of CVS if they work long hours using computers especially old models. Flat-panel LCD display screens cause less eye strain.
4. A Small Blind Spot In Your Vision, With Shimmering Lights Or a Wavy Line
A migraine aura produces this disturbed vision. It may or may not be accompanied by a headache.
5. Whites of the Eye Turned Yellowish
This is known as jaundice. It appears in either newborns with immature liver function, or adults with problems of theliver, gallbladder, or bile ducts.
6. Eyes That Seem to Bulge
Hyperthyroidism, which is overactivity of the thyroid gland is the most common cause of protruding eyes.
7. Sudden Double Vision, Dim Vision, or Loss of Vision
These are the visual warning signs of a stroke or brain aneurysm. Problems with cornea or lens or weakened or paralyzed eye muscle can prevent the eyes from aligning properly resulting in double vision or dim vision.
8. Blurred Vision in a Diabetic
For several eye problems diabetics are at increased risk, but the most common is diabetic retinopathy, in whichdiabetes affects the circulatory system of the eye. In American adults it’s the leading cause of blindness.
9. A bump or brown spot on the eyelid
Although least expected, a bump that looks pearly with tiny blood vessels is the sign of skin cancer. A clear brown spot is highly likely to be malignant melanoma.
10. Sudden difficulty closing one eye, inability to control tears
The impairment of the seventh cranial nerve that controls the facial muscle leads to temporary paralysis in half the face. Your eyelid may droop making it difficult or impossible to close and produce tears. This condition is also called Bell’s palsy and the effects tend to come on suddenly.
If you are experiencing eye twitches it can be the side effects of having alcohol, caffeine, poor sleep, stress, or smoking. It signals a problem with your nervous system, like multiple sclerosis.
On the other hand, drooping eyelids is the sign of immune system attack and muscle weakness, which doctors call as myasthenia gravis. It affects eye, face, and throat muscles making it difficult to chew, swallow, or even speak.
11. Dry eyes that are sensitive to light
Dry eyes are the common symptom of the Sjogren’s syndrome, a disorder of an immune system that attacks tear and saliva glands. Timely treatment can prevent severe tissue damage. People at the age of 40 or above are highly likely to develop this eye condition.
12. Increasing gunk in the eye
It is caused by Blepharitis—inflammation of the eyelids caused by clogging of the tiny oil glands near the base of the eyelashes resulting in irritation and redness and crusty dandruff-like flakes on your eyelashes. This condition produces yellow or green eye discharge making you feel gritty.
13. Gray ring around the cornea
Doctors call this arcus senilis and in simple terms, it is caused by high cholesterol and triglycerides. This condition of eye indicates risk for heart attack and stroke.
14. Cloudy eye
Clouding of the lens inside the eye is known as cataract and is most common in older people. The common health problems associated with the cloudy eye are tumors and diabetes, as well as side effects from certain medications.
As you can see, your eyes speak volumes about your health issues.
Is Poor Vision Inevitable As You Age?
Poor vision is not inevitable and modern lifestyle just contributes to it. People over 60, apart from glasses, may also need high-quality supplements in order to support their vision.
You may also need additional vision support if:
- You’re a smoker
- You’re overweight
- You’re diabetic
- You spend a lot of time in front of the computer
Natural, common-sense strategies that will help protect your vision as you age include:
- Quit smoking.
- Care for your cardiovascular system.
- Normalize your blood sugar.
- Eat plenty of fresh dark green leafy vegetables, especially kale.
- Get plenty of healthy omega-3 fat.
- Avoid trans fats.
- Avoid aspartame.
Source: themindsjournal.com, awesomequotes4u.com
