Poorly controlled hypertension (HTN) affects several systems such as the cardiovascular, renal, cerebrovascular, and retina. The damage to these systems is known as target-organ damage (TOD). HTN affects the eye causing 3 types of ocular damage: choroidopathy, retinopathy, and optic neuropathy. Hypertensive retinopathy (HR) occurs when the retinal vessels get damaged due to elevated blood pressure. There has been significant evidence that hypertensive retinopathy acts as a predictor of systemic morbidity and mortality due to TOD. A study by Erden et al. showed that the increase in the incidence of retinopathy is related to the degree of severity and duration of HTN.
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