Unfortunately, many diseases aren’t always straightforward and simple like we want them to be.

For starters, certain health conditions don’t always present with symptoms. Even COVID-19, for example, can be asymptomatic, causing the number of cases to rise. Plus, illnesses can share symptoms. If you’ve ever googled “how to tell if you have a cold, allergies or COVID,” you’re familiar with that.

Along those lines, you might be surprised to hear that symptoms of certain health problems can be spotted in your eye, of all places — even if they aren’t eye diseases.

“Your eyes can reveal a lot about your overall health, often before you notice any changes yourself,” said Dr. Yuna Rapoport, a board-certified ophthalmologist and the founder and director of Manhattan Eye.

Ahead, she and another ophthalmologist share health concerns they can see in your eye, what treatment looks like, how often to see an ophthalmologist and when further medical attention is needed.

While a health care provider typically uses your arm to check your blood pressure, your eyes provide information about it, too.

In fact, “the blood vessels that help to serve the retina are the only microvasculature that can be observed in the body in a non-invasive fashion,” according to Dr. Benjamin Bert, a board-certified ophthalmologist at MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California. But how?

Basically, consistently high blood pressure can make the walls of the small arteries thick and stiff, leading to pinching and squeezing of the veins.

“In severe cases, the arteries can squeeze against the veins so strongly that it causes a blockage, leading to a retinal vein occlusion,” Bert continued. “Hypertension can also be observed in the retina by the tortuosity, or the curving of the branches of the retinal microvasculature.”

In layman’s terms, that might look like having blurry vision or noticing sharper curves in the eye’s blood vessels.

What treatment entails: The treatment here is pretty obvious: lowering and stabilising blood pressure. “Normalising the blood pressure prevents further damage to the blood vessels and can help stop the progression of the disease,” Bert said.

Some helpful habits for lowering blood pressure include exercising, eating more potassium, limiting alcohol, getting enough sleep, scheduling regular checkups and engaging in stress-reducing activities.

Glaucoma, an eye condition that affects the optic nerve, is sneaky. “Glaucoma is often referred to as a ‘silent thief of sight’ because in early stages, patients don’t typically notice any symptoms,” Rapaport said.

It develops slowly, she continued, and by the time a person notices changes, permanent damage may have already occurred.

However, early signs can be detected through eye exams, particularly when there’s extra pressure, changes in the eye’s color and shape, a thinning cornea or blind spots.

What treatment entails: “Unfortunately, vision loss from glaucoma cannot be reversed, but early detection allows us to slow or stop the progression,” Rapaport said. “This is why regular eye exams (even when your eyes appear/feel healthy!) are so important.”

Remember talking about the eye’s “retinal microvasculature” (basically, the blood vessels)? Diabetes — or more specifically, elevated blood sugar — can affect it, too.

“The elevated blood sugar can damage pericytes, the little cells that are responsible for the integrity of the microvasculature in the retina,” Bert explained. “When these cells are damaged by elevated blood glucose, they disappear, leading to incompetence of the blood vessels.”

That can lead to microaneurysms and “outpouching” from the blood vessels, he continued, which look like red dots on the eyes.

In more severe cases, the blood vessels can leak, making even bigger dots and affecting vision.

What treatment entails: Controlling blood sugar and blood pressure is needed to prevent the progression of diabetes.

If vision changes have occurred, know they aren’t always a sign of “normal aging.” Eye treatments may be necessary, Bert said, such as special injections containing a medicine that can make blood vessels less leaky, preventing the growth of new abnormal blood vessels.

Prepare yourself: This one is pretty gross.

“Demodex blepharitis (DB) is an eyelid disease that is caused by an overgrowth of Demodex mites — microscopic parasites that live in eyelash follicles,” Rapaport said.

Even something as “innocent” and everyday as applying mascara can lead to it.

While you may experience symptoms that look like allergies, know that DB can be asymptomatic. Further, the disease won’t “just go away” on its own.

“Eye crust” is a red flag. “I can spot a patient with DB by analyzing the upper eyelid margin during an eye exam for the presence of crusties, otherwise known as collarettes,” Rapaport said.

What treatment entails: Good news: There’s a Food and Drug Administration-approved prescription eye drop that can treat and kill those pesky mites. Consider asking your ophthalmologist about it.

This is clearly one of the most dangerous health concerns an ophthalmologist can spot. The mass can increase cerebrospinal fluid pressure, Bert said, causing papilledema, or a swelling of the optic nerve.

To be clear, papilledema doesn’t automatically mean a person has a brain tumor or mass, but it’s something to check regardless.

What treatment entails: Ophthalmologists can test for this with an automated visual field test, which helps locate the abnormality. Then, after a diagnosis, your provider will order an MRI to assess the possible risk of a mass.

“This can often help to get patients earlier care and intervention with an oncology/neurosurgery/neurology team,” Bert said.

Inflammation in the eye — whether the front or the back — can be a sign of various autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, syphilis or even lymphoma, according to Rapaport.

It can present with eye-related symptoms, for better or for worse, such as light sensitivity, eye pain, redness and decreased vision, that may be benign.

Again, routine visits to the eye doctor are vital, even for conditions that don’t seemingly have to do with the eyes.

What treatment entails: Rapaport said she starts with topical steroid drops and, if needed, oral steroids. She also orders an autoimmune workup to see if there’s an underlying condition, and coordinates care with an appropriate specialist if needed.

As illustrated by those examples, and according to Rapoport, seeing an eye doctor can be valuable even if you don’t have eye concerns. Not just once, either.

“It is advisable for everyone to see an eye doctor or surgeon once a year for routine monitoring, so that these issues can be identified in a timely fashion,” Bert said.

Any extra regularity depends on each person’s individual needs and health profile.

“For example, if someone has the start of signs of diabetic retinopathy, they may need to be seen monthly,” Bert continued. “However, someone who has a known diagnosis of diabetes and has their blood sugar controlled with no signs of diabetic retinopathy may be able to be seen annually.”

Experiencing eye or eyelid irritation, redness, swelling, inflammation or vision changes are other reasons to make an eye appointment ASAP, Rapaport added.

And of course, you may need to see other doctors if the ophthalmologist detects a non-eye concern. For example, a cardiologist for high blood pressure or an endocrinologist for signs of diabetes.

Don’t wait, just go. Protect your body before any potential problem worsens.

The job of vice president is often a thankless one. John Nance Garner, President Franklin Roosevelt’s first vice president, called it “a no man’s land somewhere between the legislative and executive branch,” and reportedly once told Lyndon Johnson, a future vice president, that the office “isn’t worth a pitcher of warm spit.”

That’s something that Vice President JD Vance may have learned over the weekend ― although the circumstances are a bit different than in Garner’s day.

Over the past week, Vance embarked on his most important foreign policy missions yet. President Donald Trump sent Vance, his most likely successor in 2028, to Hungary to campaign for the besieged autocrat Viktor Orban as he struggled for the first time in the polls in 16 years ahead of Sunday’s election. And then, Vance led the US delegation to negotiate a permanent ceasefire agreement with Iran in Pakistan.

These were two of the most important priorities of the Trump administration and the larger far-right populist movement that it represents. And they both flamed out, rather spectacularly.

Orban lost on Sunday to an opposition coalition led by Peter Magyar, a former member of Orban’s party who defected in reaction to the regime’s corruption and proud illiberalism. Magyar’s coalition didn’t just beat Orban’s Fidesz party, it won a crushing victory with a supermajority of legislative seats capable of repealing Orban’s illiberal constitutional changes.

In Pakistan, during negotiations over Trump’s war of choice against Iran — which has deeply undermined his core political pitch that America should put American interests first — the US proved unable to assert its national interests. After less than 24 hours of negotiation, the Vance-led team seemingly walked away from the table having reached no deal.

It could be said that the advance of a global right-wing populist movement, the kind that Trump hints to as a mandate for his own administration, hinged on these two events. And Vance, put forward as the American face for them, promptly face-planted.

Trump’s second term is modeled on Orban’s autocratic rule. The Trumpist right has long looked to Orban’s Hungary for what they should do to consolidate power: defund universities, gerrymander legislative districts, fix election rules and take over the media. The Heritage Foundation even partnered with Orban’s Danube Institute to help write the Project 2025 roadmap for Trump’s second term.

“There is an alternative” to the American and European models of government, Vance said on April 8, “and it’s right here in Hungary.”

The war in Iran, meanwhile, greatly threatens the whole right-wing project. This war of choice not only undermined the Trumpian idea that the United States not get bogged down in foreign quagmires, it also threatens every American’s ― and everyone in the world’s ― economic well-being. Six weeks of war have already caused inflation to spike while the full ripple effects of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have yet not been fully felt. If Trump has any hope of matching Orban’s 16 years of success in instituting a competitive authoritarian regime, he needs to protect his party from heavy losses in the 2026 midterms. It doesn’t help when he causes economic pain for everyone.

But Trump has reportedly gotten tired of the war he started and has been looking for off-ramps.

“[Trump] is getting a little bored with Iran,” a White House official told MSNOW. “Not that he regrets it or something — he’s just bored and wants to move on.”

That means someone else has to step in and clean up the mess. And that person is Vance, who has hitched himself to a massive loss for right-wing populists and, despite reports that he was opposed to the War in Iran, is left holding the bag for the war’s potentially catastrophic economic impacts as the face of the failed negotiations.

As Vance, who has no diplomatic or foreign policy experience, announced that Iran has “chosen not to accept our terms,” which he characterised as “our final and best offer,” Trump sat octagon-side at a UFC cage match with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Oil futures jumped back above $100 after falling to the low-90s after the April 7 announcement of a 10-day ceasefire.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former Iranian foreign minister who reached the 2015 nuclear deal with the Obama administration that Trump tore up, pointed to Vance’s words as the exact reason why Iran could not trust the US position.

“No negotiations – at least with Iran – will succeed based on ‘our/your terms,’” Zarif posted on social media. “The US must learn: you can’t dictate terms to Iran.”

There were other signs this weekend that Vance’s political clout is under strain. Vance, who has spoken often and publicly about his Catholic faith (he has an upcoming memoir about his conversion), has been conspicuously silent since Trump attempted to pick a fight with Pope Leo XIV on social media on Sunday.

Vance’s inability to smooth the way with the pontiff has been a point of embarrassment before. Earlier this year, the American-born Leo apparently declined an invitation, delivered by Vance, to visit the United States for the nation’s 250th anniversary. The Vatican announced he will instead visit a Mediterranean site known for migrant crossings. And Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, actively condemned Vance’s religious-tinged political rhetoric around migrants in a 2025 letter to U.S. bishops. Vance was one of the last official visitors to Francis before he died in April 2025.

Trump’s Truth Social tirade against Leo was, ironically, over the pope’s criticisms of the war with Iran. Now, with the Vance-led peace talks stalled and the vice president apparently unable to soften the blow as his boss escalates a new feud with the Vatican, it seems to leave Vance 0/3 on attempts to influence the world stage.

Vance’s forays into foreign affairs are representative of how the modern vice presidency has changed from when Garner called it a no man’s land. The office has become either a power of its own, as when more seasoned political veterans like Dick Cheney and Joe Biden occupied the office, or, more frequently, a stepping stone for a successor, as with vice presidents Al Gore and Kamala Harris. (Perhaps Mike Pence would be included here if he had the courage.)

And Vance clearly sees himself as the heir to Trump’s Republican Party ahead of 2028. But he seems to have been set up to fail. His assignments are beginning to look like President Joe Biden’s decision to put Harris in charge of diplomacy to stem migration from Central America in 2021 ― a thankless job on an issue that wasn’t working for Democrats at the time.

It may well turn out that Vance’s vice presidency ― thanks to the new added responsibilities ― is still not worth a pitcher of warm spit.

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

A former Donald Trump official reacted to the president’s strange excuse for posting a meme that depicted him as Jesus by calling for his immediate removal from office.

Trump posted the AI-generated image showing him as a Christ-like figure, and, after lots of criticism, including some people who suggested he just might be the Antichrist, dubiously claimed he thought the image “was me as a doctor.”

Many people were sceptical of Trump’s frankly lame excuse for posting the meme, including former White House press secretary Anthony Scaramucci, who suggested on Monday it was time to kick Trump out of office for good.

“This guy should be removed immediately before his lack of impulse control causes an irreversible tragedy,” Scaramucci said on X. “He doesn’t believe what he just said, if he does it’s a cognitive crisis that responsible people would act on immediately.”

During the first Trump administration, Scaramucci, who mainly worked as a financier, served as White House press decretary for a whopping 10 days.

He has since spent a lot more time than that criticising his former boss.

Last month, he put a spin on the definition of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a so-called condition that the MAGA crowd claims affects the millions of people who don’t support the president.

He told Don Lemon the real people suffering from “TDS” are the folks “that are with him still.”

“Those are the people that are deranged,” he said. “Those are the people that have lost touch with reality in terms of how much damage he and his cronies are causing the country and the world.”

In November, Scaramucci told “The Daily Beast Podcast” the truth about Trump’s popularity with donors, aides and Republican Party officials: He’s not.

“Anybody who thinks the party likes him doesn’t understand the party,” Scaramucci explained. “And that could be the donors who hold their nose and give him money, or that could be the political class that lives with them in Washington.”

He added that “if you’re inside Trump’s inner orbit, you hate the guy’s guts,” but said “there’s a dance because you’re afraid of him, because he’s intimidating you, because of his political prowess and his media presence.”

“He’s sort of the big furry, he’s sasquatch of social media. And you don’t want him bigfooting your ass, right? So you’re afraid of him, but you hate his guts,” Scaramucci said.

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

As conversations around children’s screen time and social media use continue to swirl, it’s perhaps no wonder experts are noticing a trend for “faking” screen time data.

UK search interest for ‘fake screen time’ has reached a five-year high, according to Google Keyword Planner data analysed by Bupa UK. In the last year alone, searches rose by 500%.

Parents can manage and monitor their children’s screen time to prevent excessive usage. But kids are clearly intent on finding workarounds – from using screen time faker apps, to more elaborate methods that leave even the most tech-savvy parents perplexed.

“Can someone help me make a screen time faker?” asked one young person on Reddit, noting their “parents are getting stricter” and they needed to “fake” their usage stats.

Some teens are spending up to 14 hours per day on social media apps and games, according to the BBC. Meanwhile, there was a 52% increase in children’s screen time between 2020 and 2022, and nearly 25% use their phones in a way that’s consistent with a behavioural addiction.

While having access to phones and the internet can help kids bond with friends and find new communities, there are also plenty of downsides.

Research shows social media could have a detrimental impact on teen mental health. Too much screen time can also hamper a child’s ability to focus, process and recall, as well as impacting language learning.

There’s also the addictive element. “Many apps that we use every day are designed to generate constant dopamine hits – a chemical released in our brains that makes us feel good. When you can take your device anywhere, you can get constant dopamine hits every time you check your phone,” says Dr Lukha.

“Constant exposure to dopamine from your device can lead to a tolerance, meaning the effect of the dopamine hit lessens. This leaves you spending more time on the app, trying to seek that same feel-good hit that you initially found. A similar principle can be found for other addictive behaviours, like gambling, drinking alcohol, or taking drugs.”

Over time, addictive behaviours can lead to other problems, like neglecting daily responsibilities or relationships.

“Many of us use our smartphones to help us feel better connected to others, however spending too much time in front of your screen can actually increase loneliness in the long run, and leave teens particularly vulnerable to comparison culture, which may make them more prone to developing depression,” adds Dr Lukha.

“Being chronically online may lead to an increased risk of bullying, exploitation and pressure to look a certain way in younger people. Linked with this risk comes greater proneness to anxiety, low self-worth and eating disorders.”

There’s also the physical element to consider – prolonged device use can lead to eye strain, increased risk of headaches, blurred vision and shoulder pain, along with health conditions like heart disease.

As conversations around screen time and social media use dominate headlines, parents will understandably want to find ways to curb their children’s usage.

As a benchmark, more than two hours a day of screen time is seen to be excessive, notes Dr Lukha. Yet research shows many teens spend eight hours per day on screens.

“When it comes to reviewing daily screen use, teens who have knowingly, or unknowingly, exceeded their agreed limit may be tempted to fake their statistics for several reasons,” she explains.

“Regardless of whether they’ve exceeded their screen time agreement by minutes or hours, teens may feel ashamed of their metrics. They may also be worried about any repercussions from their parents, when asked to share their stats.

“On the other hand, teens may feel like monitoring their screen use isn’t necessary, especially if their friends aren’t monitored similarly. Or if their friends use their phone as frequently as they do, or more.”

The one thing not to do here is lecture them. Instead, tact is needed in order to manage the situation “without sparking anxiety, arguments or withdrawals”, says Dr Lukha.

Here’s what she recommends:

Firstly, consider whether you’re setting a good example with your own smartphone use – and if not, it’s worth considering ways to manage it and carve out screen-free time.

“If you find it hard to step away from your phone, try urge-surfing,” Dr Lukha says. “Urge-surfing is a technique that encourages you to pay attention to the feeling of the urge, rather than trying to ignore it completely.

“Confronting your urges head on helps you acknowledge them, which means you’re less likely to slip up and mindlessly scroll. This technique could be useful for your teen to know, too.”

Instead of confiscating devices, try to introduce periods of time where they are not the focus of their attention. It might be easier if you do this as a family, so it doesn’t feel unfair.

Dr Lukha notes you could make dinner together and use recipe books rather than a device, or introduce a no-phones-at-the-table rule so you can catch up with each other.

If your teen uses their phone as an alarm, it might be worth investing in a digital alarm clock so they can keep devices off one-hour before bedtime – and throughout the night. Encourage them to charge their phone away from their bedtime, so temptation is out of reach. You could even set it as a challenge for the whole family.

If teens are spending hours on phones, think about what else they could be doing in that time – for example, joining clubs or giving new hobbies a try.

“Try to remind your teen of the things they used to enjoy, and ask them if they’d like to give them another go,” says Dr Lukha.

“Whether it’s something familiar for your teen, or something new, it could be nice to try it together with them – that way, you can share some unplugged time, and maybe even do some bonding, too.”

The expert notes that if a teenager’s screen use has suddenly increased or they start to panic when their phone isn’t within reach, it could be a sign that something deeper is going on.

“Don’t be afraid to ask them about it, but try to frame it from an area of concern, rather than accusation,” she suggests.

You could say something along the lines of: “I’ve noticed you’ve been spending a lot more time on your phone. I realised we’ve not had a catch-up recently, so I wanted to check if there’s anything new going on with you.”

And don’t forget that health professionals can also help. High smartphone usage may be a coping mechanism for other things going on in their life, Dr Lukha says, adding: “Talking therapies, like cognitive behavioural therapy, may be useful to get to the route of the problem, and give your teen healthier strategies that aren’t centred around their phone.”