What if a doctor could spot clues about your heart without looking directly at your heart? The answer may be sitting at the back of your eye. The retina contains a dense network of tiny blood vessels, and researchers are studying whether changes in these vessels can reveal signs linked to cardiovascular disease. Retinal imaging is already useful for detecting conditions such as diabetic retinopathy and vascular changes related to high blood pressure. Newer research is going further, exploring whether retinal images can also help estimate heart disease and stroke risk. But there is an important catch: an eye scan is not yet a stand-alone heart disease test.
