Diabetic retinopathy is an eye disease caused by diabetes. Damaged blood vessels and abnormal new blood vessels can cause blindness.
This disease occurs because high sugar levels damage the blood vessels in the retina. These blood clots can swell and leak. They can also seal and prevent bleeding. Sometimes, new abnormal blood vessels develop. All of these changes can cause vision loss.
Diabetic retinopathy is an eye disease that can cause blindness in people with diabetes. It affects the blood vessels in the retina (the layer of sensitive tissue at the back of the eye).
If you have diabetes, it is important to have a complete eye exam at least once a year. Diabetic retinopathy may not have symptoms at first, but early detection can help protect your vision.
Treating diabetes (through exercise, a healthy diet and medications) can also help prevent or delay vision loss.
Anyone with any type of diabetes can develop diabetes, including people with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes (diabetes that occurs during pregnancy).
DIABETES IN PREGNANCY
Women with gestational diabetes or who develop gestational diabetes have an increased risk of developing diabetic retinopathy. If you have diabetes and are pregnant, get a complete eye exam as soon as possible. Ask your doctor if you need additional eye exams during pregnancy.
Ophthalmologists can diagnose diabetic nephropathy during an eye exam. The doctor will put fluid in your eye to dilate the pupil and check for glaucoma and other eye problems.
If you have diabetes, regular eye exams are very important. If diabetic retinopathy develops, early treatment can stop the damage and prevent blindness.
If your ophthalmologist thinks you have severe diabetic retinopathy or DME, you should have a fluorescein angiography study. This test allows your doctor to see images of the blood vessels in your retina.
CAUSES
The cause of diabetic retinopathy is high blood sugar that occurs as a result of diabetes. Over time, high blood sugar can damage the retina, the part of the eye that reflects light and sends signals to the brain through the optic nerve.
Diabetes damages the body’s blood vessels. Eye damage begins when sugar clogs the small blood vessels that supply blood to the eyeball, causing them to burst or bleed. To compensate for the blocked blood vessels, new blood vessels grow in the eyes, but they are much more fragile.
SYMPTOMS
In the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, you may not have any symptoms because the macula is not affected by the diabetes. But if the condition progresses, the symptoms might be:
- Asymptomatic in the early stages.
- Low visibility. image distortion.
- Blurred vision.
- Black spots or bands floating in your vision (floaters).
- seeing spots in the visual field
- loss of color contrasts
Diabetic eye disease usually affects both eyes.
The changes that occur in diabetic retinopathy do not usually affect the central part of the retina (macula), so they do not cause a decrease in visual acuity, which the patient does not see. That is, the vision is thanks to the central part of the retina called macula, when there is diabetic retinopathy, may begin affecting the retina but not the macula, so the patient does not notice anything in the visual field or vision in general.
When the macula is affected, the patient’s vision worsens and the image becomes distorted.
Diabetic retinopathy can develop over many years without being diagnosed and can be present during diabetes. That is why monitoring and scheduling is the only way to detect and treat problems early.
HOW TO PREVENT DIABETIC RETINOPATHY?
Diabetes Diabetes is not always preventable. However, regular eye exams, proper control of blood sugar and blood pressure, and early intervention for vision problems can help prevent serious vision loss.
If you have diabetes, do the following to reduce your risk of developing diabetes:
- Keep your diabetes under control. Make healthy eating and exercise part of your daily routine.
- Take your oral diabetes medication or insulin as directed.
- Control your blood sugar. You may need to check and record your blood sugar levels several times a day or more often if you are sick or stressed. Ask your doctor how often you should check your blood sugar.
- Control high blood pressure and cholesterol. A healthy diet, regular exercise and losing extra pounds can help. Sometimes medications are also needed.
- If you smoke or use other forms of tobacco, consult your doctor to help you quit. Smoking increases your risk for various diabetes complications, such as diabetes.
Notice the change in your vision. See your ophthalmologist right away if your vision suddenly changes, or if your vision becomes blurry, cloudy, or spots or specks appear.
TREATMENT
- Constant control in case you are diabetic: Controlling blood sugar and blood pressure can prevent vision loss. Follow the diet recommended by nutritionists. Take the medication prescribed by the doctor. In some cases, good sugar control can restore vision. Controlling high blood pressure keeps the blood vessels in the eyes healthy.
- Intraocular injection: medication is injected into the eye. Another option to reduce macular inflammation is steroid medications. These medications are also administered by injections into the eye. Your doctor will tell you how many injections you will need and how often.
- Surgery: Leaky blood vessels can be closed with laser surgery. This can reduce swelling of the eyes. Laser surgery can help block the blood vessels and prevent them from regressing. In some cases, it is necessary to combinate the different treatments to improve the vision.
- Vitrectomy : Depending on the type of diabetic retinopathy you have, your ophthalmologist may recommend a surgery called vitrectomy. The ophthalmologist removes the vitreous gel and blood from the abnormal veins in the back of the eye. This allows light rays to refocus more effectively on the retina.
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