What Is Diabetic Retinopathy?
If you have diabetes
mellitus, you probably know that your body can’t use or store sugar properly.
When your blood sugar gets too high, it can damage the blood vessels in your
eyes. This damage may lead to diabetic retinopathy. (Your retina is the nerve
layer that lines the inside of your eye and converts light into nerve signals
that your brain can interpret.)
Types Of Diabetic Retinopathy
When blood vessels in the retina are damaged, they can leak fluid or bleed. This causes the retina to swell and form deposits called exudates.
This is an early form of diabetic retinopathy called nonproliferative or background retinopathy. You may not notice any change in your vision when you develop this early form of the disease, but it can lead to other more serious forms of retinopathy that affect your vision.
When fluid collects in the macula (the part of the retina that allows us to see fine details), reading and other close work may become difficult. This is called macular edema.
In proliferative retinopathy, new, fragile blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina.
These new blood vessels are called neovascularization, and can lead to serious vision problems, because the new vessels can break and bleed into the vitreous. (The vitreous is the clear, jelly-like substance that fills the center of the eye.)
When the vitreous becomes clouded with blood, light is prevented from passing through the eye to the retina. This can blur or distort vision.
The new blood vessels can also cause scar tissue to develop, which can pull the retina away from the back of the eye.
This is known as retinal detachment, and can lead to blindness if untreated. In addition, abnormal blood vessels can grow on the iris (the colored part in the front of your eye, which can lead to glaucoma.
How Can I Prevent Vision Loss from Diabetic Retinopathy?
You can’t always. The longer a person has diabetes, the higher the likelihood they will develop diabetic retinopathy. About 80% of people who have had diabetes at least 15 years have some damage to the blood vessels in their retinas.
However, taking good care of yourself significantly reduces your risk of diabetic eye disease, as well as many of the other complications associated with diabetes.
Keep your blood
sugar under good control
Maintain a healthy diet
Exercise regularly
Remember, yearly dilated eye exams by an Eye Care Professional. are the best
way to preserve your vision. Early detection of diabetic eye disease is essential
in preventing vision loss.
How Do I Know If I Have Diabetic Retinopathy?
You might not.
There are often no
symptoms of early diabetic retinopathy.
Your ophthalmologist can tell you if you show signs of diabetic eye disease
by looking at the inside of the eye with a special instrument called an ophthalmoscope.
To better see inside the eye, he or she may dilate (widen) your pupil with eye drops.
Helpful hint: Make sure to take sunglasses with you to your eye examination, or better still, arrange for someone to drive you home. Your eyes will be extra-sensitive to light for a short time after a dilated eye exam.
How Does Diabetes Affect Your Vision?
If you have diabetes
mellitus, you know how your body’s inability to use and store sugar can
affect your health.
Fluctuations in your blood sugar can damage your eyes, although you may not
notice it at first.
An eye condition known as diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common complications associated with diabetes, and is the leading cause of blindness among working-age Americans.
Fortunately, you can significantly reduce your risk of developing preventable vision loss, and other complications of diabetes, by using common sense and taking good care of yourself.
Maintain a healthy
diet.
Exercise regularly.
Keep your blood sugar under good control.
If you notice blurring of your vision, or have difficulty doing close work
such as reading, or if your vision becomes spotty or hazy, see your Eye Care
Professional right away.
Monitor your blood pressure and keep it under good control, or seek appropriate
care.
See your Eye Care Professional for a dilated eye exam at least once a year.
Even if you develop diabetic retinopathy, your Eye Care Professional can probably
prevent vision loss — if you see him or her early enough.
How Is Diabetic Retinopathy Treated?
The good news
about diabetic retinopathy is that treatment may not be necessary. Even when
it is, vision loss can usually be prevented or impaired vision improved.
Good control of your diabetes with intensive management and control of your
blood sugar will delay, and possibly prevent, both the development and progression
of diabetic retinopathy.
If the Eye Care Professional finds that you have diabetic retinopathy, you may need to have special photos of your retina taken. This series of photos is called fluorescein angiography.
When you have fluorescein angiography, a yellow dye is injected into your arm which then passes through the blood vessels in your retina. This makes it easier to see the blood vessels in the photos. Your ophthalmologist can then use the photos if you need laser surgery for diabetic retinopathy.
Helpful hint: If you have fluorescein angiography, your urine may appear orange, and you may notice a yellowish tint to your skin. This is normal, and will disappear after about a day.
What Can You Do To Help Protect Your Vision?
Types
of Treatment
Possible
Complications
TIPS
Before Your Surgery (if scheduled)
TIPS
for the Day of Surgery
TIPS
After Surgery
