Co-management of patients with hypertension.

Information provided by doctors of optometry to the primary care providers of patients with hypertension provides one of the few objective means of assessing the status of these patients. The optometrist may also be the first to suspect primary or secondary hypertension in the course of a comprehensive eye examination. In this paper the pathophysiology of essential, malignant, and secondary hypertension is reviewed. The treatment and management of the systemic and ocular effects of hypertension are discussed along with the pivotal role that doctors of optometry play in co-managing patients with hypertension.