Your Eye is a Window to Your Heart

I'm up late putting together a presentation for next Tuesday, October 11th, on heart disease for the optometry students at Western University College of Optometry.  As I reviewed the available data, it amazed me how strong a connection there is between one's vision and one's heart health.

This is really important since you're more likely to see your optometrist (annually) for glasses & contact lens than you are to see your family physician, assuming that you have no physical complaints to speak of.  However, should your optometrist see any retinal vascular changes, evidence of hypertensive retinopathy, alteration in retinal vascular branching, and/or age-related macular degeneration, it's imperative that you see your family physician immediately for further evaluation as those physical findings have been associated with an increase risk of heart disease, stroke and mortality.  So be sure to take care of the windows to your heart.

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