What Are the Effects of High Blood Pressure on the Eye?
Primary hypertensive retinopathy is caused by hypertension. The main manifestations are retinal artery contraction and even retina and optic papillopathy.
Hypertensive eye disease
- Fundus changes occur in about 70% of patients with hypertensive ophthalmopathy. The fundus positive rate has nothing to do with gender, but it is closely related to the patient's age, the older the positive rate is higher. In clinically common chronic hypertension patients, the fundus positive rate is proportional to the duration of the disease; the longer the course of the disease, the higher the fundus positive rate.
Causes of hypertension eye disease
- Primary hypertensive retinopathy is caused by hypertension. The main manifestations are retinal artery contraction and even retina and optic papillopathy.
- The degree of fundus lesions is closely related to the duration and severity of hypertension. With the reduction and control of blood pressure, fundus hemorrhage, exudation and other lesions have gradually improved, generally good results, but in the later stages the effect is poor.
Hypertensive eye disease diagnosis
- Professional ophthalmologists can diagnose hypertensive retinopathy. Ophthalmologists usually use ophthalmoscope to examine the posterior pole of the eyeball. Features of retinal degeneration include: narrowing of blood vessels; exudation of blood vessels; exudation of the retina, called "cotton patches"; edema of the macula and optic disc; bleeding in the back of the eyeball.
Hypertensive eye disease prevention
- To prevent hypertensive retinopathy, you must strictly control your blood pressure level, which can be achieved by changing your diet, increasing your physical activity, and taking antihypertensive drugs. In addition, you must follow up on time.
Clinical manifestations of hypertension eye disease
- Clinical manifestations of hypertensive eye disease
- In the area around the diameter of the nipple about 4 to 6 nipples, gray retinal edema, enhanced arteriolar central reflection, arteriovenous cross sign, bright red flame bleeding, cotton-like white spots, yellow-white shiny hard exudation, and macular Star Atlas.
- (1) Fundus examination:
- Retinal arterial spasm: seen in the early stage of hypertension, the retinal arteries are generally narrow or curved, and the ratio of arteriovenous and venous is abnormal; from normal 2: 3 to 1: 2 or 1: 3, the arteries straighten and the branch angle changes Sharp; varicose veins after arteriovenous crossing, especially small blood vessels around the macula can be curved in a typical spiral shape.
- During retinal arteriosclerosis, arterial thinning, enhanced reflection, and cross pressure sign are the main manifestations. The width of the normal arterial reflection is about 1/4 to 1/3 of the arterial canal. When arteriosclerosis, due to the thickening of the vessel wall and vitreous degeneration, the reflection of the tube wall is reflected, so the reflection is enhanced and widened, and the appearance is copper wire-like. When it is further hardened, due to the increase of the wall density, almost no blood column reflection is formed, and a silver filament is formed. At the intersection of arteriovenous veins, due to the sclerosis, no reflection of the blood column can be seen, forming a silver filament. At the intersection of arteriovenous veins, due to the compression and pushing of sclerotic arteries to the veins, there are different signs of compression. It is manifested by the fading of the veins at the intersection, or the disappearance of the veins at both ends of the intersection, or the skewed veins, or the collapse of the veins, or the arch of the veins.
- Retinopathy:
- a. Bleeding, shallow bleeding is linear, flame-like or flaky, and deep bleeding is mostly dot-shaped or round-shaped.
- b. Exudate.
- c. Soft exudates, cotton floc exudates of different sizes on the surface of the retina.
- d. Hard exudate, located in the deep layer of the retina, is a small yellow-white dot with clear edges.
- e. The star-shaped map of the macula is composed of most simple or fused bright yellow and white spots.
- f. Retinal neuropathy period: This period is retinopathy plus optic nipple edema, venous bulge, and arteries becoming significantly thinner.
- (2) Fundus angiography. In the early stages of hypertensive retinopathy, narrowing of the retinal arteries and capillaries can be seen. When the capillary blood flow is nourished to a serious degree, a cotton-like white spot appears on the retina. Around the ischemic area of the capillaries, dilated and capillaries can be seen. Capillary leakage and hard exudation, papillary edema and dilation of capillaries around the papilla, leakage of fluorescence, and microhemangioma. Choroidal blood vessels are irregularly developed, vascular filling is delayed, and there are many glass warts of various sizes.
Hypertensive eye disease treatment
- The best way to treat these eye diseases caused by high blood pressure is to control your blood pressure.
Hypertension eye disease tea treatment method
- Take 6g prunella flower buds, 10g double hook vine, 15g white peony, 15g Ophiopogon, 6g white chrysanthemum, boil about 5 minutes with water and boil for about 10 minutes. Drink 3 ~ 5 times a day.
- Take 3-5 grams of apocynum into a water cup and brew it with boiling water for 5 minutes before taking it. When tea is consumed 1-3 times a day, it can soften blood vessels, relieve high blood pressure, clear heat and detoxify.
Classification of Hypertensive Ophthalmopathy
- Clinically, hypertensive fundus changes are divided into 4 grades, of which grades 1 and 2 refer to benign hypertension and grades 3 and 4 refer to malignant hypertension.
- Grade : Slight contraction of the retinal artery and some curling. The patient had mild hypertension.
- Grade II: Definite local stenosis of the retinal artery with arteriovenous cross sign. The patient's blood pressure is higher than before, generally without symptoms, and his heart and kidney function is still good.
- Grade III: The retinal arteries are obviously locally constricted, with bleeding, exudation, and cotton wool spots, that is, hypertensive retinopathy. Most patients have significant arteriosclerosis at the same time; blood pressure remains high, and heart and kidney function are impaired.
- Grade : All of the above retinopathy are severe, and there are optic nipple edema, that is hypertensive retinopathy. Some patients have more severe damage to the heart, brain and kidneys.
Complications of Hypertensive Eye Disease
- Hypertension eye disease is a common disease caused by hypertension. If it is not taken seriously, it will cause the following complications.
- I. Fundus hemorrhage: This condition often occurs in patients who have already suffered from hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and diabetes. Especially easy to occur in patients with pre-existing hypertension. It can also be secondary to diseases such as retinal vein occlusion and retinal venous inflammation. The main manifestations are decreased vision, dark shadows fluttering in front of the eyes, and severe visual loss may occur.
- 2. Acute angle-closing glaucoma: This eye disease is more common in elderly women. Patients may experience severe headaches, eye pain, nausea, vomiting, and sudden vision loss. There is a "rainbow" when the light appears. Some may also develop symptoms such as fever and cold. It is easy to be mistaken for a gastrointestinal disease or a cold.
- Third, the visual decline: the consequence is that the incidence of myopia, dry eye, conjunctivitis has increased significantly, dry eyes, redness, burning or foreign body sensation, heavy eyelids, eye pain, headache, decreased vision and other symptoms.
Hypertensive eye disease
- 1. Fundus examination
- Fundus angiography
Relationship between vasoactive substances in hypertensive ophthalmopathy and the incidence of hypertensive ophthalmopathy
- With the development of molecular biology, cell biology, biochemical separation, and micro-measurement, the relationship between vasoactive substances and the pathogenesis of hypertensive ophthalmopathy, the research on vasoactive peptides and proto-oncogenes has received increasing attention in the ophthalmology field, especially They are closely related to the occurrence of hypertension, which is speculated to be one of the important causes of hypertension.