Blood Pressure and Its Relationship to Retinopathy: A Review Article

Hypertension is a common chronic disease that is closely associated with certain serious health issues like retinopathy. Typically, retinopathy is referred to as the damage or loss of the light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye due to prolonged high pressure in one’s blood. If one is suffering from high blood pressure, it may ravage the blood vessels within the retina. These ravages lead to changes within the structure of the retina hence classified into different stages Non-proliferative Retinopathy: An early stage that shows minimal changes within the retina, together with microaneurysms, and retinal hemorrhages. The advanced stage abnormal new blood vessels proliferate on the retina leading to further severe complications including total blindness. Patients may not show any kind of visible signs in the early stages. But as the disease advances, some warning signs could comprise: Blurred vision, Abrupt loss of vision, Difficulty in seeing at night Visual distortions Diagnosis is normally clinical with a complete eye examination to include: – Fundoscopy – Visual acuity tests – Imaging modalities like optical coherence tomography (OCT) It is, therefore, very important to control hypertension so as to prevent or delay the progression of retinopathy in a particular individual. The treatment could be through: Lifestyle changes (dietary, exercising, quitting smoking) Medications to control blood pressure In advanced cases, laser therapy or operation for vitrectomy may have to be done as treatment for proliferative retinopathy caused by hypertension. Retinopathy due to hypertension is a very serious condition that reinforces the need for regular monitoring and proper control of blood pressure. If detected early and intervened upon early, it could significantly cut down the risk of loss of vision and enhance the general health outcomes if one has hypertension, proper and timely treatment.