Are there systemic diseases that can cause retinal diseases?

There are several diseases of the body that can cause problems in the retina and the ophthalmologist Sara Vaz Pereira underlines the risk factors and the importance of prevention and visual screening:

There are several diseases and I think that in Portugal we have to think about cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension; patients also often have dyslipidaemia; they have diabetes. All these diseases can cause retinal pathology by themselves or even be risk factors for other retinal diseases such as retinal thrombosis, such as infarctions - i.e. retinal arterial occlusions - which are potentially serious situations that can lead to blindness. Therefore, any situation of decreased vision or distorted vision in people with risk factors or de novo should be assessed.

Then there are other diseases such as autoimmune diseases like Lupus. Systemic Lupus erythematosus is a disease that exists and can lead to vasculitis, that is, inflammation of the retinal vessels, the appearance of haemorrhages or even retinal infarcts, so these patients can also be at risk.

And also the medication itself to treat Lupus - there are many patients who take hydroxychloroquine, commonly known as Plaquinol - anyone taking this type of medication to treat these diseases has to have regular eye screening because it can cause changes that are potentially irreversible, although rare. It is important to say that they are rare, but should be screened for.

And then there are also, for example, infectious diseases, such as toxoplasmosis - there may also be ocular toxoplasmosis. We also have HIV/AIDS - in which more immunosuppressed patients may have opportunistic infections, i.e., which would not normally cause disease but, because they are more debilitated, may cause retinal disease.

This and other advice is available on the TSF website.