What is Diabetic Eye ?
Diabetes is a condition where the body cannot properly process the foods we eat. This causes a rise in blood glucose levels, and excessive blood glucose levels can affect the eyes.
How harmful it can be?
Diabetes over time can harm your eyes, resulting in blurry vision or blindness. However, by managing your diabetes, you may take precautions to avoid developing a diabetic eye disease or stop it from worsening.
How harmful it can be?
Diabetes over time can harm your eyes, resulting in blurry vision or blindness. However, by managing your diabetes, you may take precautions to avoid developing a diabetic eye disease or stop it from worsening.
Symptoms of Diabetic Eye Disease
Diabetic eye issues can start without any symptoms. There can be no signs of diabetic eye disease, or there can be mild to severe signs of diabetes in your eyes. This is why routine eye exams are important to catch early diabetic eye disease.
Additionally, keep an eye out for any unexpected changes in your vision that might indicate an emergency. If you have any of the following symptoms, contact your doctor straight away:
- Your eye is filled with several new spots or dark, wavy threads (floaters)
- A deep shade covers some of your vision, almost like a curtain
- Flashes of light
- Lost vision
- Frequently shifting eyesight—sometimes from day to day—eye
- Discomfort or redness
- Poor color vision
Causes
Diabetes-related elevated blood sugar results in diabetic retinopathy. Over time, too much sugar in your blood can cause the little blood capillaries that feed the retina to become blocked, severing the retina's blood supply. The eye makes an effort to generate new blood vessels as a result. However, these new blood vessels don't grow properly and are highly prone to leakage.
All across the body, blood vessels are harmed by diabetes. When sugar obstructs the minuscule blood arteries leading to your retina, it damages your eyes by causing them to hemorrhage or leak fluid. Your eyes then develop new, poorly functioning blood vessels to compensate for these blocked blood vessels. These brand-new blood vessels frequently bleed or leak.
Diagnosis
A thorough dilated eye exam is the best way to identify diabetic retinopathy. Often times testing will be used to look for any diabetic eye disease.
Prevention
4 Ways to Prevent Diabetic Retinopathy-Related Vision Loss
- If you have diabetes, discuss blood sugar management with your primary care physician. Retinal blood vessels are harmed by high blood sugar. That impairs eyesight.
- Do you have renal or high blood pressure issues? Inquire with your doctor about how to handle these issues.
- Visit your ophthalmologist for dilated eye exams regularly as soon as you are diagnosed with diabetes.
- Contact your ophthalmologist immediately if you detect changes in the vision in one or both of your eyes.
Treatment
The goal of treatment is to slow or stop the progression of diabetic retinopathy, which mostly depends on the kind and severity of your condition.
Earlier-stage diabetic retinopathy
You may not require therapy immediately if you have mild or moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy. Eye Consultants will conduct macular testing to ensure that there is no diabetic eye disease.
Advanced-stage diabetic retinopathy-
Proliferative diabetic retinopathy requires immediate medical attention. Options may include:
- Injecting drugs into the eye- Depending on the specific issues with your retina. The eyes' vitreous receive an injection of these drugs, also known as vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors. They aid in halting the development of new blood vessels and reducing fluid accumulation.
- Vitrectomy- A vitrectomy is a surgical procedure to remove the vitreous gel, a translucent gel that fills the center of the eye. The technique resolves proliferative diabetic retinopathy-related issues with significant bleeding or scar tissue.
- Laser Treatment– Laser treatment, also known as photocoagulation, uses a laser beam to cause minute burns inside the eye. In order to avoid vision loss or blindness, laser therapy can stop eye diseases from worsening.
- Photocoagulation- The leaking of blood and fluid into the eye can be stopped or reduced by this laser procedure, sometimes referred to as focused laser therapy. Laser burns are used during the operation to correct leakage from aberrant blood vessels.