Diabetic Retinopathy-What Is It?
Eye problems are just one of the many concerns anyone with diabetes is surely aware of. Diabetic retinopathy is serious in that it has a direct effect on your vision. What happens is the diabetes causes damage to the retina. But to understand how and what can be done to prevent it, you first need to understand the retina itself.
Simply put, the retina is a lot like the camera of your eye. It is a group of nerves at the back of the eyeball that transmits the picture you see to your brain. It’s not a complicated process unless retinopathy interferes.
The blood vessels that are in the retina are very sensitive. When they split, the fluid that was in the vessels starts to drip into the eye’s compound. And when this happens the problems begin.
Most people will start to observe what appears to be an obstruction in their sight. Then scar tissue starts to occur around you eyeball and in it. Finally, the retina detaches or breaks away from where it should be sitting.
So how does this relate to diabetes? Well high levels of sugar in the blood can cause the damage we just talked about to occur. But the bigger problem is that all too often the noticeable symptoms happen only after the problem damage has become extremely severe. The result is that frequently you may not even realize the problem exists until it is too late to correct. This means that regular eye checkups from a doctor are essential. In the case of diabetics, you’ll need to visit your eye doctor a minimum of every year. Discovering a problem in the early stages makes it much easier to correct.
And between visits, always be on the lookout for symptoms or any changes in your vision. Things like black or white spots, called floaters, that appear without reason. Weak and blurry vision can also be a sign of diabetic retinopathy. Double vision too can be a sign. Even if these problems seem mild, they need to be taken seriously. And that means getting in touch with your eye doctor immediately.
Often times treatment is not necessary, but if it is, there are several treatments available. These treatments can reduce the amount of vision being lost. They include surgery, prescriptions medication and also laser treatments. Your doctor will discuss all your treatment options with you.
The biggest factor in a successful treatment is to catch diabetic retinopathy early. Make sure yearly visits to an eye doctor are scheduled, that way if treatment is necessary it can be started before the problem gets out of hand.