Diabetic Eye Disease

Diabetic eye disease is a group of eye problems that can affect people with diabetes. These conditions include diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, cataracts, and glaucoma.

Over time, diabetes can cause damage to your eyes that can lead to poor vision or even blindness. But you can take steps to prevent diabetic eye disease, or keep it from getting worse, by taking care of your diabetes.

The best ways to manage your diabetes and keep your eyes healthy are to

• manage your ABCs - blood glucose (A1C), Blood Pressure, Cholesterol and Smoking( quit smoking)
• have a Comprehensive eye exam with OCT once a year

Diabetes affects your eyes when your blood glucose is too high or when it is too low(hypoglycemia)

In the short term, you are not likely to have vision loss from high blood glucose. People sometimes have blurry vision for a few days or weeks when they’re changing their diabetes care plan or medicines. High glucose can change fluid levels or cause swelling in the LENS that helps you to focus, causing blurred vision. This type of blurry vision is temporary and goes away when your glucose level gets closer to normal.

If your blood glucose is unstable over time, it can damage the micro blood vesse in the back of your eyes. This damage can begin during prediabetes, when blood glucose is higher than normal, but not high enough for you to be diagnosed with diabetes. Damaged blood vessels may leak fluid and cause swelling. New, weak blood vessels may also begin to grow. These blood vessels can bleed into the middle part of the eye, lead to scarring, or cause dangerously high pressure inside your eye.

Most serious diabetic eye diseases begin with blood vessel problems. For medical advice, please see your HCP( Healthcare Provider) for appropriate diagnosis, evaluation and management.

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Author

Paddy Kalish OD, JD and B.Arch