What Is Hypertension?

Hypertension is high blood pressure, so that's when blood pressure when it's measured by your health care provider or sometimes by the patient is above what we recommend. I always tell my patients that high blood pressure is like water in your pipes at home, if it's at too high pressure when it's running through the pipes, it could over time damage the pipes or cause them to burst.

So think of the blood vessels in your body like pipes, and when the blood is running at too high pressure through your blood vessels over time this can damage those vessels and can lead to disease in your heart your eyes, your kidneys and other body organs.