When Diabetes Strikes, Eye Exams Can Save Your Sight

Newest Diabetes Information

MONDAY, April 4, 2022

May an annual eye examination save your sight if in case you have diabetes? Most positively, one imaginative and prescient professional says.

“Diabetes is understood to change the well being of the blood vessels within the retina and these vascular adjustments don’t trigger signs within the early phases,” defined Dr. Jeffrey Sundstrom, an ophthalmologist and retina specialist at Penn State Well being Eye Heart in Hershey, Pa.

“It is extraordinarily necessary to detect any adjustments early so we are able to take steps to stop vision loss — and the best way to try this is with an annual dilated eye examination,” he stated in a Penn State information launch.

With diabetes, the blood vessels within the retina typically grow to be leaky, and this could set off a swelling of the macula — the a part of the retina in the back of the attention that’s accountable for central vision.

“Extreme vision loss from diabetes can happen when irregular blood vessels develop within the retina and into the vitreous — the gel portion of the attention,” Sundstrom stated. “These irregular blood vessels can result in bleeding behind the attention and even trigger a kind of retinal detachment. If any of those circumstances are left untreated, they’ll result in progressive visible loss and blindness.”

Greater than half of individuals with diabetes will develop diabetic retinopathy, one of many main causes of blindness in the US, but fewer than half of diabetes sufferers get annual imaginative and prescient checks.

Pregnant ladies with gestational diabetes are additionally in danger for diabetic retinopathy and must be seen a number of instances all through their pregnancy, in response to Sundstrom.

There are a number of remedies if eye problems are found, together with laser remedies and drugs.

In addition to getting an annual dilated eye examination, diabetes sufferers ought to observe the ABCs to their handle diabetes and decrease their threat for imaginative and prescient loss and different potential issues equivalent to heart attack and stroke, Sundstrom stated.

“Sufferers ought to work with their main care physician to optimize all three of the ABCs, and see their eye care supplier for annual diabetic retinopathy screening exams,” Sundstrom beneficial. “The important thing to sustaining good imaginative and prescient is an efficient relationship with each your main care supplier and your eye physician.”

By managing their ABCs and getting an annual eye examination, most sufferers with diabetes can retain good imaginative and prescient, he stated.

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