Doctors explain how they can tell if you have cancer and diabetes just by your eyes

Apparently, trained medical professionals are able to tell if you have some of the biggest existing health issues just by looking at your eyes.

While symptoms for cancer and diabetes are usually monitored and discovered through a number of thorough medical exams, it turns out that answers could be found right in front of doctors.

It's claimed that a simple eye exam can find some of the world's deadliest diseases before normal symptoms start showing, with the likes of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease also identifiable through redness or bright blotches in the eyes.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Dr Raj Dasgupta, chief medical officer for Sleepopolis, revealed: "A lot of diseases that affect the whole body can leave clues in the eyes because the eyes have tiny blood vessels, nerves and tissues that are really sensitive to changes."

Doctors have urged people to have annual eye exams (Getty Stock Image)

The president-elect of the American Optometric Association, Dr Jacqueline Bowen, even claimed that eye doctors are able to detect up to 270 health conditions that aren't directly related to the eyes.

Dr Dasgupta has urged people to get an eye exam every year, adding that they can 'give us early warning signs' of conditions before it affects your vision or develops to become worse.

But how can they spot cancer and diabetes?

How can you spot cancer in your eyes?

While dark specks on the iris are often a sign of too much exposure to the sun, it could also signal the first signs of eye cancers.

Dark or bright spots appearing on the eye, as well as swelling around the eyelid, could also be a sign of eye cancer before vision changes take place.

Subtle yellowing around the whites of the eyes could also signal issues with the liver.

Ocular melanoma is a type of eye cancer that can develop in the uvea, the eye's middle layer, and when a dark spot in the eye appears, it could be a sign of this type of cancer as melanin is produced in the uvea.

This is the only symptom that is widely shown, according to Dr Dasgupta, though flashes of light, blurry vision or a change in pupil size can signal the condition too.

Another type of cancer, retinoblastoma, can grow in the back of the eye because of genetic mutations, which appears as a white spot in scans.

Luckily though, this rare form of cancer has a 96 percent survival rate.

It is also said that breast and lung cancers can spread to the eye, showing as dark spots.

Forms of cancer and diabetes can be found through an eye exam (Getty Stock Image)

How can diabetes be seen in your eyes?

Data released in 2019 revealed that 431,000 cases of diabetes were found in American patients who didn't know they had the disease.

Diabetes can damage blood vessels in the eyes due to high blood sugar, while high blood pressure narrows and weakens eye blood vessels, resulting in a potential rupture.

Known as diabetic retinopathy, it is the main cause of blindness in adults before retirement, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

An eye exam can reveal blood vessels leaking into the whites of the eyes.