Diabetes Puts Your Eyes at Risk

Diabetes is a systemic disease that affects how your body produces or uses insulin. Insulin is essential for processing blood sugar into energy for your cells. Those with diabetes can’t process these sugars, so they remain in the bloodstream and pose several health risks, including:

If you have diabetes, regular diabetic eye exams can help protect you from vision loss and potential blindness. At Total Vision Solana Beach, we use industry-leading diagnostic technology that gives us an unprecedented view of your eyes so we can detect the earliest signs of eye diseases.

Please visit us soon for a diabetic eye exam.

Diabetes & Your Eyes

Over time, diabetes can damage your eyes and lead to a number of diabetic eye diseases, including:

Diabetic Retinopathy

The retina, the light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eye, is supplied by a system of delicate blood vessels. High blood sugar levels caused by diabetes can damage these blood vessels, making them weaken, bulge, and potentially break, damaging the retina. This is called diabetic retinopathy.

As diabetic retinopathy worsens, some blood vessels can become closed off, prompting new, abnormal blood vessels to grow in their place. These abnormal blood vessels can:

Leak into the vitreous humor and cause floaters.
Create scarring that can lead to retinal detachment.
Block normal fluid drainage, leading to glaucoma.

Diabetic Macular Edema

At the center of the retina is the macula, the area of the retina responsible for sharp, straight-ahead vision. Fluid leaking caused by damaged blood vessels can collect under the macula, causing it to swell. This swelling is a complication of diabetic retinopathy called diabetic macular edema.

Open-Angle Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve and often advances without noticeable symptoms. This disease causes irreversible vision loss and blindness.

There’s an interesting link between glaucoma and diabetes. Those with diabetes are twice as likely to develop glaucoma, and those with open-angle glaucoma are at a higher risk of developing diabetes.

Cataracts

Cataracts are the clouding of the eye’s natural lens. They’re a common part of the natural aging process and tend to progress slowly. But, diabetes causes changes in your eyes that could make cataracts develop faster and at a younger age.

Detecting, Diagnosing, & Treating Diabetic Eye Disease

The best way to detect and diagnose any diabetic eye disease is with a dilated eye exam. Annual diabetic eye exams allow your optometrist to document and track changes in your eyes that might indicate a problem. Since many eye diseases advance without early symptoms, eye exams are the only way to catch them before they do damage.

Treatment options vary depending on the specific eye disease. In some cases, you may require treatment for the rest of your life. However, early diagnosis, personalized treatment, and regular eye care can reduce your risk of blindness by 95%.

If you have diabetes, it’s essential to protect your eye health with regular diabetic eye exams. A close relationship with your eye care team can help you prevent eye disease and manage your symptoms. Our staff at Total Vision Solana Beach is excited to be an integral part of that team, so please call us soon to book your appointment.

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