What your eyes reveal about your health

The eyes are a part of our body that can reveal many clues about our state of health. Inspecting them regularly can detect certain diseases.

If the eyes are the mirror of the soul, they can also be the showcase of your state of health. Depending on their colors, the state of their pupils, the swelling of the eyelids, you can sometimes have access to certain messages that your body wants to convey to you.

Alcohol abuse, hepatitis… your eyes reveal certain diseases

Beyond the consultation with the ophthalmologist, you have surely noticed that your eyes are sometimes auscultated by your general practitioner when you go to see him for a control visit. Yourself, by inspecting your eyes, you can find clues to what is wrong with your body.

The pupil is a good example: if it dilates very slowly, or is constantly dilated, it can be a sign of consumption of cocaine and amphetamines. On the contrary, heroin users have a very constricted pupil.

Another part of this organ that can give you information: the color of the white of the eye. If it’s red, that’s a sign you’re harboring an infection, but it’s also a sign of alcohol abuse. When it turns yellow, it may indicate a liver problem (hepatitis for example), or jaundice, and even a genetic disease.

When you see a small spot of blood in that area of ​​the eye, it’s a sign that a blood vessel may have “broken” and it’s not much. But she can also be synonymous with diabetes or bleeding disordereven high blood pressure.

Finally, when a white arc forms around the cornea, it may mean that your cholesterol level is too high.

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yellow eye Getty Images

An application to read in your pupils

When you look at your face in the mirror, you can also examine the size of your eyes : if one is more swollen than the other, or if both of your eyes seem to have grown larger than usual, this may indicate a problem with the thyroid gland.

Also take care to inspect your eyelids : when they contract involuntarily and you feel small spasms, this is due to stress. It is a very unpleasant sensation which can also hide a nutritional imbalance.

Swelling and redness should be treated as they can hide bacteria.

As you will have understood, the state of our eyes can help to have a start of diagnosis. Silicon Valley has even seized on the idea to develop an application linked to the secrets of the eyes : the University of California at San Diego has developed a system, via the phone’s camera, which makes it possible to detect changes in the size of the pupils. This application could detect future Alzheimer’s patients.

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