What is diabetic retinopathy?
High blood sugar levels can affect the back of your eye (retina), leading to vision loss. This is called diabetic retinopathy. In its early stages, diabetic retinopathy often has no symptoms. But as it gets worse, eye damage from diabetes leads to vision loss. Treatment for diabetic retinopathy may include medication, eye injections and surgery. You must check with your ophthalmologist regularly to check for damage from diabetic retinopathy.
What are diabetic retinopathy symptoms?
You can have diabetic retinopathy and not know it. This is because it often has no symptoms in its early stages. As diabetic retinopathy gets worse, you will notice symptoms such as:
- Seeing an increasing number of floaters
- Having blurry vision
- Having vision that changes sometimes from blurry to clear
- Seeing blank or dark areas in your field of vision having poor night vision
- Noticing colors appear faded or washed out
- Losing vision
Diabetic retinopathy symptoms usually affect both eyes.
How is diabetic retinopathy diagnosed?
Drops will be put in your eye to dilate your pupil. This allows your ophthalmologist to look through a special lens to see the inside of your eye and the blood vessels in your eye. He is looking to see if any blood vessels are blocked, leaking fluid or bleeding. He is also looking to see if any abnormal blood vessels are growing.
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is another way to look closely at the retina. A machine scans the retina and provides detailed images of it. This helps your doctor find and measure the swelling of your retina.
How is diabetic retinopathy treated?
Your treatment is based on what your ophthalmologist sees in your eyes. Treatment options may include:
Medical Diabetic Control: Controlling your blood sugar and blood pressure is the most important thing you can do to prevent vision loss. Carefully follow the diet your PCP has recommended. Take the medicine your diabetes doctor prescribed for you. Sometimes, good sugar control can even bring some of your vision back. Controlling your blood pressure keeps your eye’s blood vessels healthy.
Medical/Laser/Vitrectomy Surgery: In more advanced diabetic retinopathy, treatment may include eye injections of medicine or laser treatment to slow down the progression of bleeding or surgery to remove the vitreous gel and blood from leaking vessels in the back of the eye.
Do you have diabetes and need an exam for eyeglasses?
Changes in blood sugar levels can affect your vision. Make sure your blood sugar is under control for at least a week before an eye exam. Vision prescriptions are given when your blood sugar levels are stable work best!
