Diabetic Eye Disease
If you have diabetes mellitus, fluctuations in your blood sugar can weaken blood vessels inside your eyes and damage your vision. Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common complications of diabetes, and is the leading cause of blindness among working age Americans. It often has no symptoms at first, so regular eye exams are essential. If you have diabetes, it is recommended that you see your eye doctor for a dilated eye exam at least once a year. Pregnant women with diabetes should have an exam in the first trimester because diabetic retinopathy can progress rapidly during pregnancy. It is important that you talk with your eye doctor about how you can further reduce your risk of complications of diabetes.
What is diabetic retinopathy?
The retina is the part of your eye that collects light to create the images you see. Healthy blood vessels nourish the retina. In persons with diabetes, fluctuations in blood sugar can overburden blood vessels and damage them, leading to a condition that allows blood to leak into the retina of the eye. Weakened and leaking blood vessels may also grow into the retina and the clear gel inside your eye, called the vitreous. This condition is called diabetic retinopathy, and it is one of the most common – and potentially damaging – complications of diabetes.
Other factors can worsen retinopathy, including pregnancy, high blood pressure, and smoking.
Symptoms
There is no pain or outward sign of retinopathy, making it possible for a person to have the condition without knowing it. Gradually, vision may become blurry, however symptoms may also come and go. If your retinopathy becomes severe, clouded vision or even blindness may result. Because this condition may progress without notice in early stages, regular comprehensive, dilated eye examinations with an ophthalmologist are strongly recommended for all diabetics. With regular visits, your eye doctor will be able to detect changes before vision loss occurs. Of course, there is also no substitute for managing your diabetes. Don’t smoke, and work to keep your blood sugar and blood pressure under control through a recommended plan of good nutrition, exercise and other healthy lifestyle habits.
How is retinopathy treated?
Slowing the progress of diabetic retinopathy is critical, and sometimes lost vision may possibly be restored. The treatment plan recommended by your doctor will depend on your condition, your age, and other factors.
Monitoring your overall eye health is the most important step. Your doctor may do a photographic assessment of your retina, and also an angiogram. Angiograms use a dye to create very detailed images of the retina.
Laser surgery to attempt to repair and reduce growth of leaking blood vessels may be prescribed.
Other surgical procedures may be needed to repair a damaged retina. In some cases, too much blood leaks into the vitreous, obscuring vision. Your doctor may remove the vitreous to alleviate the problem.
Diabetes (diabetes mellitus) is a common disease in which blood-sugar levels are chronically too high. The disease has many related complications, and several eye diseases among them. The most common eye complication of diabetes is diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of adult blindness.
Diabetic retinopathy occurs when high blood-sugar levels affect the functionality of blood vessels in the retina (light-sensing cells in the eye). In early phases of the disease, capillaries will leak blood or fluid. This can cause swelling in the retina (which may result in blurring of central vision), and it can leak into the vitreous humor (the fluid surrounding the retina) causing floaters or obscuring vision.
During the beginning stage serious vision damage is less likely, however, it can lead to a more advanced stage of the disease, called proliferative diabetic retinopathy. In this form, blood vessels in the retina actually close off. New blood vessels grow to make up for the lack of blood flow to the retina. The new blood vessels unfortunately are accompanied by scarring and more leakage. This can lead to serious vision loss and blindness.
Early symptoms of diabetic retinopathy may include:
The condition can typically be diagnosed by an ophthalmologist during an eye exam, long before noticeable vision symptoms occur and when more treatment options are still available. Thus it is very important for those suffering from diabetes to have regular eye exams, to monitor for diabetic retinopathy and other complications.
Treatment:
Treatments for diabetic retinopathy vary based upon the nature and progression of the condition. The best way to preserve good vision is to vigilantly control blood-sugar levels, lessening the chance of retinopathy, and impeding its rate of advancement.
Once the disease is in advanced stages, the ophthalmologist may choose a type of laser surgery, called pan-retinal photocoagulation. This technique burns many tiny dots across the retina, with the aim of sealing off leaky blood vessels and discouraging further blood vessel growth. This surgery does not cure diabetic retinopathy, but it can help to save remaining vision.
If the vitreous humor has become clouded by blood leakage, there is a chance it may be naturally purged by the eye. If clouding persists, however, a vitrectomy, a surgical removal of the vitreous humor, may be necessary. The ophthalmologist replaces it with a saline solution, and the eye naturally replenishes the vitreous fluid over time. This procedure can restore vision that has been obscured in the vitreous, however, any vision loss due to retinal damage or detachment is not restored.
If you have diabetes or are experiencing any symptoms of diabetic retinopathy, we encourage you to contact us today to schedule a consultation.