From Alzheimer's and diabetes to brain tumours and hypertension, the eyes are offering a window into the body that is helping doctors spot a wide range of conditions.
What makes looking for disease in the eye particularly convenient is that it is non-invasive – there is no cutting of skin, bleeding, swallowing cameras, or anything like that.
Unless something vile is suspected, your eye will just be peered into by an optometrist, ophthalmologist, or in some cases your GP. An ophthalmoscope (basically a sophisticated magnifying glass with a light) may be used, and you may be asked to take some drops to dilate your pupils.
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Literally like windows
The key to what makes the eye such an excellent diagnostic tool, is that you cannot only see out of it, but also in. Doctors can look through the clear lens and cornea, all the way to the retina. And here, in the back of the eyes, is the one place in the body where blood vessels can be examined without first having to cut through skin. And if you thought one could tell a lot by looking into an eye, wait till you see a blood vessel.
It may help to think of a building with only two windows. Through these windows you may see a few pipes (some of which may be leaking) or you may see some trash lying around. And putting it all together, you may get a general (or quite specific) idea of how the building is being kept up.
Similarly, the blood vessels at the back of the eye can offer invaluable clues to the body's health and help doctors spot a number of chronic systemic diseases.
Reading the vessels
When peering into your eyes, optometrists would quite likely see a branching network of veins and arteries – the veins being darker and thicker, while the arteries are thinner and have a brighter red colour.
Certain changes in the appearance of this thin webbing of arteries suggest that the patient may have arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) or hypertension (high blood pressure.)
There are also suggestions that small plaque deposits in the eye could indicate a cholesterol build-up elsewhere in the body.
Similarly, small haemorrhage (bleeding) spots may indicate that a patient has diabetes – such vascular damage is a typical result of diabetes. There are reports of patients having no idea that they may be diabetic, until it was diagnosed in this way.
Certain signs in the eye can also be suggestive of brain tumours. Thus, doctors may be looking for a swelling of the optic disk (known as papilloedema,) which in turn may be the result of a tumour pressing on the optic nerve.
Apart from these diseases and conditions, sickle cell anaemia, leukaemia, and brain aneurisms also leave their marks on the eye.
On the cutting edge
US researchers are experimenting with cutting edge technologies that help them detect beta amyloid protein in the lens of the eye using short light pulses. Beta amyloid protein is a telltale sign of Alzheimer's. The hope is that these tests can help with the early diagnosis of this devastating neurological disease.
Early research is also suggesting that a deadly form of malaria known as cerebral malaria may be diagnosed through the eye. Researchers say that cerebral malaria leaves opaque spots on the retina and whitens certain arteries at the back of the eye.
The way in which the eye tracks movement may be used in diagnosing a range of psychological conditions. Research being conducted at the University of Illinois is trying to spot patterns of eye movement that can help diagnose conditions like schizophrenia.
Connected to the body
The fact that so many diseases are leaving traces in the eyes, makes it very clear that the eyes are integrally connected to the rest of the body.
It is for this reason that researchers are increasingly linking the health of the eye to that of the rest of the body. There has been strong suggestions that poor nutrition, lack of exercise, and smoking can have a detrimental effect on the eyes. – (Marcus Low, Health24, November 2006)
Sources:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jan-16-Sun- 2005/living/25616690.html
http://medicine.ucsd.edu/clinicalmed/eyes.htm
www.healthdaynews.com
US National Cancer Institute
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