What do white rings round your corneas indicate?

Adapted from BMJ 23 Nov 2021

In a German study of ten thousand people aged between 40 and 80 years old, 21% of men and 17% of women had white rings round their irises of the eyes. You may have noticed these in your parents or yourself and may have wondered what this means.

The average age of the group was 60. Researchers noted that corneal arcus is more likely in men than women, increases with age, and increases with lipid levels.

Corneal arcus has no relevance to socioeconomic status, body mass index, arterial blood pressure or HbA1c levels.