Hypertension or high blood pressure leads to many changes in the blood vessels of the body. These same changes in blood vessels affect the eyes in many ways. It can cause the following problems in the eye

• Hypertensive retinopathy
• Macro-aneurysms
• Branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) and vitreous hemorrhage
• Optic nerve involvement (Optic neuropathy)
• Involvement of the nerves supplying the eye muscles, leading to temporary paralysis or weakness of these muscles
• Signs of hypertensive retinopathy in various Grades are frequently seen in adults 40 years and older.

Many of these conditions may not have any symptoms in the initial stages. Therefore it is important to have a periodic eye checkup to detect these.

Branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO) may lead to a blurring of vision especially for fine work. A vitreous hemorrhage may lead to a more severe loss of vision associated with a shower of red floaters.

Optic neuropathy may lead to painless loss of vision.

Paralysis or weakness of the muscles of the eye leads to restriction of movement of the eye and double vision.

Eye is the only organ of the body where one can observe the blood vessels directly. Hence, eye examination will also help the physician treating your hypertension in his management. The dilated retinal examination may give an idea about the severity of the disease elsewhere in the body.

Presence of disc swelling (grade 4 hypertensive retinopathy) is an indicator of a very severe, life threatening rise in blood pressure, which warrants emergency treatment to control the blood pressure.

The patient can have changes of both diabetic retinopathy and hypertensive retinopathy. In fact, presence of hypertension may lead to exacerbation of the changes due to diabetic retinopathy. Therefore it is all the more important to control the blood pressure in a patient with diabetic retinopathy.

Research shows that basic lifestyle choices can reduce hypertension, and even help prevent the condition altogether.

Staying fit, losing excess weight, eating the right food, avoiding or reducing stress, and cutting the intake of alcohol, nicotine and other substances, can make all the difference.

In some cases, lifestyle changes can actually solve the problem, making medication unnecessary.