When Dr. Edward Kondrot first asks his patients,“What did you do this summer?”—it’s not small talk—it’s part of his exam. An ophthalmologist and homeopathic doctor, Kondrot wants to get to know his patients’ dispositions and immediate struggles.
Those who launch into grumbles and complaints are likely under stress—one of many factors that he said can affect their vision. His “get to know you” questions continue through daily habits, work, and even digestion. How patients think and their lifestyle decisions factor into both gut and eye symptoms, which are more interconnected than most people realize, Kondrot said in an interview with The Epoch Times.
“The more I know about you, the more I can treat your eyes,” he noted. “Most eye doctors are just focused on the eye—what’s going on in the eye, what eyedrop, surgical procedure, or injection they can do. You need to look outside the realm of the eye.
You have to be a detective when you look at eye diseases. What goes on in the gut is reflected in the eye.” But researchers have also connected intestinal permeability to dysbiosis, which is linked to compromised health in other body locations, the review said.
One location is the ocular mucosa—the barrier that protects the eye against allergic, inflammatory, and infectious invasion. This interface is also known at the gut-eye axis. “Loss of intestinal barrier integrity and increased vascular permeability allow bacterial translocation and their pro.