A simple eye test can help diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease years before memory problems start, according to a visiting ophthalmologist.

Clement Trempe, who spoke at Bermuda’s first Alzheimer’s and Dementia summit, revealed that the eye and the brain are affected by the same neurodegenerative diseases.

“People think the eye is not part of the brain but they are wrong,” Dr Trempe told a packed audience at the Earl Cameron Theatre.

“The eye is an integral part of the brain and is affected by the same neurodegenerative diseases but much sooner.”

Dr Trempe said that by looking at the eyes of his patients he was able to detect warning signs up to 15 years before their memory problems start.

He explained that the same abnormal protein that accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients also accumulates in the eye.

“Ageing is when you start to accumulate misfolded protein,” he explained. “The plaques that form in the brain also form in the eye. There is no question that cortical cataract is Alzheimer’s of the eye.”

But he stressed that these can be detected by an eye doctor before they fully form and he urged people to go for regular exams and ask their opticians to check for signs of early neurodegenerative change.

“Any eye doctor in any country, any eye doctor in Bermuda, has a slit lamp. You don’t need a brain biopsy, you don’t need an MRI, you don’t need expensive stuff,” he said at the seminar on Thursday night.

“Just look in the eye. And the resolution we have is a thousand times better than any MRI.”

If patients have early indicators of neurodegenerative diseases, he said they should go see their GP, who should then check for inflammation because diseases of the eye do not happen in isolation.

Medical scientist Thomas Lewis, who also presented at the summit, added: “Alzheimer’s is not a brain-only disease. It’s a multifactorial inflammatory disease we see in the eye.

“The brain governs everything but neurons in the brain are fixed. The blood carries everything, the circulatory system, so really most of these diseases precipitate through the circulatory system.

“Your neurologist has to go beyond the brain. If they’re just testing the brain, they will never figure out why you are sick and they’ll never be able to come up with a solution.”

But Dr Lewis also stressed that there would never be a pill developed to cure Alzheimer’s disease.

“We’re all waiting for that one pill, waiting and waiting and in the meantime five million people, 25 million worldwide have Alzheimer’s Disease.

“What I’m here to tell you is that one silver bullet pill will never come. It’s a multifactorial disease,” he said, adding that no one pill would ever be able to address all the factors involved.

He pointed to one study that concluded that heart disease “is Alzheimer’s disease of the heart”.

“Glaucoma is Alzheimer’s disease of the eye and Alzheimer’s is glaucoma of the brain. They are all interconnected.”

He said the question is why the disease happens in one place in one person and in another place in the next person.

“That’s the conundrum we may never solve. But organically it’s all happening, it’s just a question of where it expresses first and the brain is actually much more resilient than the eye and the eye is obviously transparent so we see it in the eye first but it is happening in the brain too and its happening in the vasculature.”

For people worried about Alzheimer’s, Dr Lewis recommended five steps: a baseline memory test, a living profile, blood tests, eye tests and advanced tests.

Dr Lewis, who also spoke about some of the changes that have taken place in areas such as farming that impact people’s health, furthermore outlined preventive measures, including taking supplements such as cod liver oil or vitamin D, eating organic food and exercising. Dr Lewis and Dr Trempe, who co-authored the book The End of Alzheimer’s: A Differential Diagnosis Toward a Cure and work together at the RealHealth Clinics, were invited to speak at the summit by local physician Jo-Ann Cousins-Simpson.

Dr Cousins-Simpson has teamed up with Maxine Simmons, clinical nurse co-ordinator at the hospital, to found the Bermuda Alzheimer’s and Memory Services. This new company aims to provide educational and medical services, as well as a specialised dementia care facility. As part of their services, they also plan to introduce routine cognitive assessment to seniors over the age of 65.

• For more information and resources, visit beamsbermuda.org and www.realhealthclinics.com