It may sound strange to hear your eye doctor ask when you last had a colonoscopy but there be reason to ask. When eye doctors detect multiple, dark areas of pigmentation in the retinas or lesions, they may suspect Gardner Syndrome. People affected by Gardner syndrome have a high risk of developing colorectal cancer at an early age. That is why it is important for everyone to get their eyes examined yearly. Your eyes can reveal health issues and systemic diseases you were not even aware you had.
“Systemic diseases are diseases that involve many organs or the whole body. Many of these diseases also affect the eyes. In fact, an eye exam sometimes leads to the first diagnosis of a systemic disease.” According to the University of Illinois’ College of Medicine, some common system diseases that affect the eyes are Diabetes, Hypertension (or High Blood Pressure), AIDS, Graves’ Disease, Sarcoidosis, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Atherosclerosis, Sickle Cell Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. However, the eyes may reveal other possible systemic illnesses such as different types of cancer.
“Gardner syndrome is a form of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) that is characterized by multiple colorectal polyps and various types of tumors, both benign (noncancerous) and malignant (cancerous). They are also at an increased risk of developing other FAP-related cancers, such as those of the small bowel, stomach, pancreas, thyroid, central nervous system, liver, bile ducts, and/or adrenal gland,” says the National Institute of Health (NIH). says that, The NIH lists the presence of “congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (a flat, pigmented spot within the outer layer of the retina)” as one of the possible manifestations of Gardner Syndrome. Congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium, often abbreviated as CHRPE, is one of the things your doctor screens for during your dilated eye exam. Although they don’t affect your vision, multiple lesions of CHRPE in both eyes are “strongly associated with familial adenomatous polyposis coli.”
Although most forms of CHRPE are benign, your eye doctor will most likely recommend a full gastroenterological exam by a specialist to rule out any serious conditions, and to diagnose any other cause. It is up to your eye doctor to evaluate the lesions based on the number of them, if they are present in one or both eyes, their shape and the regularity of the lesions’ borders. CHRPE associated with Gardner syndrome are usually present in both eyes, in multiple quadrants (or parts of the retina), they have a distinct, pisiform or peapod-like shape and have irregular borders.
Colon cancer is just one of the forms of cancer that may be detected through an eye exam. Scheduling annual eye exams is one of the ways you can be proactive with your health.