Diabetic Eye Care

Diabetic Eye Care

Diabetes can lead to the development of a number of eye conditions, which can affect your sight. These include:

• Diabetic retinopathy – Retinopathy is a common complication of diabetes and the most serious of all diabetes-related eye conditions. It occurs when persistent high levels of blood glucose cause leaks or blockages in the capillaries (small blood vessels) that provide the retina with a constant supply of blood. This damages the retina and stops it from working, thus affecting your vision. If left untreated, it an lead to total loss of sight.
• Temporary blurring – the abnormal changes in blood sugar levels caused by diabetes can affect the lens inside the eye, which can lead to short spells of blurred vision throughout the day.
• Cataracts – a cataract is an eye condition that is more commonly associated with older diabetics. It occurs when the lens becomes cloudy, causing vision to become blurred or dim as light struggles to pass through to the back of the eye.

One of the most effective ways to prevent retinopathy-caused sight loss is to attend your diabetic eye (or retinal) screeningappointments.

Each annual appointment involves a detailed examination of the eyes and is designed to help reduce the risk of vision loss in people with diabetes by identifying retinopathy at an early stage - research shows that early detection of retinopathy and appropriate treatment can prevent 90% of all those at risk from losing their eyesight.