{"id":872,"date":"2015-02-25T07:59:43","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T07:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=872"},"modified":"2015-02-25T07:59:43","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T07:59:43","slug":"regular-eye-exams-can-help-prevent-serious-heart-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/regular-eye-exams-can-help-prevent-serious-heart-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Regular eye exams can help prevent serious heart events"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eye exams provide clues to heart and blood vessel health. This is according to\u00a0Dr. Stewart Shofner<\/a> of Shofner Vision Center in Nashville, TN, who said that during a comprehensive eye exam, optometrists or ophthalmologists are able to identify heart related diseases before symptoms appear.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Eye<\/a><\/p>\n

During a thorough eye examination, an eye doctor can view small changes in the blood vessels in the back of the eye, which can also predict a more serious systemic disease including high blood pressure, stroke or heart failure. Using advanced digital retinal imaging, eye doctors can detect and monitor blood flow in the retina.<\/p>\n

Affecting almost 65 million people, high blood pressure (hypertension) is known as a “silent” disease as many don\u2019t experience any symptoms. During a comprehensive eye examination, an eye doctor will check for subtle changes in the retina resulting from high blood pressure, also known as hypertensive retinopathy<\/a>. Changes may include narrowing of the small blood vessels in the retina, arteries pressing down on veins and flame-shaped haemorrhages, among other complications. If these changes are detected, it\u2019s imperative that a patient contacts their primary care physician to receive appropriate and timely treatment.<\/p>\n

Vision loss may occur when blood obstructs the retina, the eye is deprived of sufficient oxygen or the macula swells. Once the central retinal vein becomes blocked, significant vision loss may occur. Artery and blood vessel obstruction in the retina can be temporary or permanent and can also cause vision loss when a blockage disrupts blood flow in the eye. More specifically, Transient monocular vision loss<\/a> (TMVL) is an important warning sign that should not be ignored because this complaint may predict risk for a major cardiovascular event.<\/p>\n

Most everyone is aware that a healthy diet and lifestyle will improve one\u2019s overall health. Researchers show that the following risk factors link heart health with vision health and they include: smoking, obesity and high cholesterol.<\/p>\n

Exercising and eating a heart healthy diet rich in omega-3s, antioxidants and soluble fiber will help improve both heart and eye health. It\u2019s recommended to consult with a primary care physician before beginning any exercise or diet program. Don’t forget to visit your eye doctor annually or as recommended by your eye care professional.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative to help raise Heart Health Awareness, as well as the importance of regular eye exams,\u201d said Dr. Shofner. “Eye exams not only help prevent vision loss but also potentially save lives.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eye exams provide clues to heart and blood vessel health. This is according to Dr. Stewart Shofner of Shofner Vision Center in Nashville, TN, who said that during a comprehensive eye exam, optometrists or ophthalmologists are able to identify heart related diseases before symptoms appear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":873,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,35],"tags":[526,523,525,524],"class_list":["post-872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-wellness-2","category-wellness-2","tag-eye-care","tag-eye-exam","tag-hypertensive-retinopathy","tag-transient-monocular-vision-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":874,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions\/874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}