It may be a common knowledge that high total cholesterol is bad for your health. This may lead to several problems like a heart attack. Most of us do not know that too much cholesterol also affects our eyesight.

Doctors from the Stahl Eye Center in New York declare that too much cholesterol increases the risk factor for occluding the blood vessels in your eyes.

Just like any other organ, the eyes need a good blood supply. Too much cholesterol prevents blood from going coming out of the eye in a normal way.

With retinal vein occlusion, the passage way or the blood vessel coming out of the retina gets narrower and narrower because of cholesterol and the slow flow of blood which eventually develops into a clot. The case is the same for arteries.

The Journal of the American Medical Association cites high blood pressure and high cholesterol level increases the risk for retinal vein occlusion. A study in Ireland concludes that people with high blood pressure is 3 times more prone to retinal vein occlusion. High cholesterol increases the risk by 2.5 times.

Experts suggest that those taking care of a person’s hypertension or high levels of cholesterol should also be wary on the health of the patient’s eyes.

Retinal blood vessel occlusion does not present early symptoms until it may be too late. A significant loss of vision can be prevented if you look at the things that you are supposed to take care of.

Doctors recommend a combo of eating healthy, regular exercise, and losing some weight.