Diabetic Eye Care
Over time, diabetes can damage your eyes. Diabetic eye disease is a group of eye problems that can affect people with diabetes, including diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, cataracts and glaucoma.
Diabetic Eye Disease
Diabetes affects your eyes when your blood glucose (blood sugar) is too high. High glucose can change fluid levels or cause swelling in the tissues of your eyes that help you focus, which causes blurred vision.
While it’s not likely that you will experience vision loss from short-term high glucose levels, you may have blurry vision for a few days when levels are abnormally high. Over time, if your glucose levels remain high, it can damage the blood vessels in the back of your eyes. Damaged blood vessels may leak fluid or cause bleeding in the eye.
Diabetic Retinopathy and Macular Edema
Diabetic retinopathy is caused by damaged blood vessels harming the retina. In early stages of the disease, diabetic retinopathy often has no symptoms. In later stages, this condition can cause swelling in parts of the eye, inadequate blood flow and blurred vision. If left untreated, diabetic retinopathy can lead to retinal detachment, glaucoma and blindness.
Swelling in the macula can develop in patients with diabetic retinopathy. Over time, this disease may lead to partial vision loss or blindness. If you are diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, there are several treatment options which your doctor will discuss to determine the best plan for you.
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Glaucoma & Cataracts
Someone with diabetes is more likely to develop glaucoma or cataracts than someone without diabetes. People with diabetes can also develop cataracts at an earlier age than those without diabetes.
To protect your vision and prevent damage to your eyes, maintain control of your blood sugar, follow your physician’s diet and exercise plan and have a dilated eye exam with your eye doctor, once a year.