High blood pressure itself is usually experienced by patients without any symptoms at all (asymptomatic). It can do its damage silently.

Hypertension can lead to problems in the organs affected by high blood pressure. Long-term hypertension can lead to the following complications via arteriosclerosis, which causes narrowing of blood vessels by forming plaques:

  • An enlarged or weakened heart, to a point where it may fail to pump enough blood (heart failure)
  • Aneurysm – an abnormal bulge in the wall of an artery
  • Blood vessel narrowing – in the kidneys, leading to possible kidney failure; also in the heart, brain and legs, leading to potential heart attack, stroke or amputation, respectively

Blood vessels in the eyes my rupture or bleed, leading to vision problems or blindness (hypertensive retinopathies, which can be classified by worsening grades one through four