9 Unexpected Conditions You Can Develop In Your Eyes

Your lovely orbs reveal more about your overall health than you might think. They provide insight into various infections, chronic diseases, and even cancers.

Did you know that eye swelling can be a sign of a digestive problem? Or is blurry vision a sign that your blood sugar is out of whack?

If you don't schedule regular dilated eye exams, you're passing up an important opportunity to save your vision and avoid potentially serious illnesses. Here are some of the more common and unusual conditions that can affect your eyes.

1. Melanoma

Melanoma can begin in the eyes as primary cancer or spread to the eyes as secondary cancer that began elsewhere in the body.

Eye melanoma can cause vision changes, but many people experience no symptoms until cancer has progressed. The most common type of eye cancer is primary melanoma, which cannot be detected by looking in the mirror.

2. Inflammatory bowel disease

If you have digestive issues, you should definitely get an annual eye exam. Eye problems affect about 10% of people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

A common IBD complication is uveitis or inflammation of the middle layer of the eye wall. It can cause eye redness, pain, blurred vision, and light sensitivity.

3. Herpes

The herpes simplex virus is more commonly associated with cold sores on your lips and blistery bumps on your genitals. It can, however, cause an eye infection.

Herpetic eye or eyelid lesions are usually painful. If herpes infects the cornea, you may experience severe pain, redness, swelling of the eyelids, and decreased vision. The virus can inflame and scar the retina, or it can cause it to separate from the back of the eye, resulting in blindness.

4. Other sexually transmitted diseases

Direct contact with bodily fluids can cause gonorrhea or chlamydia in the eyes. Each can cause a severe case of pink eye.

Syphilis, on the other hand, travels through the bloodstream and can spread to the eye. Syphilis can cause inflammation, pain, and vision problems in the eyes.

5. Toxoplasmosis

Direct contact with bodily fluids can cause gonorrhea or chlamydia in the eyes. Each can cause a severe case of pink eye.

Syphilis, on the other hand, travels through the bloodstream and can spread to the eye. Syphilis can cause inflammation, pain, and vision problems in the eyes.

6. Zika virus

The majority of people infected with this mosquito-borne illness have no symptoms at all. If they do, they may experience a mild fever, rash, headache, joint pain, and muscle pain, as well as watery, red eyes.

The virus is transmitted into the bloodstream and spreads to various organs, including the eye. You do not need to be bitten by a mosquito to contract Zika. It can be passed from an infected person to a healthy person via sex or a blood transfusion.

7. Diabetes

Diabetes, if left uncontrolled, can harm your heart, blood vessels, nerves, kidneys, skin, brain, and, yes, your eyes.

Diabetic retinopathy causes damage to the back of the eye's delicate blood vessels. It may not cause any eye symptoms at first, but it may eventually cause "floaters" in your field of vision or blurry vision. It is the leading cause of blindness in adults in the United States.

8. Kidney disease

As strange as it may sound, people with chronic kidney disease are more likely to develop vision-impairing eye diseases.

Diabetes and hypertension are common risk factors for the eyes and kidneys, as are disease pathways such as inflammation and artery narrowing and hardening.

9. Stroke

The most common type of stroke is an ischemic stroke, which is caused by a blood clot in the brain. But did you know that you can have a stroke in your eye? A blood clot or clump of fatty plaque clogs an artery in your eye, cutting off blood supply to the retina.

Eye stroke, also known as retinal artery occlusion, is a painless condition that can cause sudden or progressive vision loss.