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Diabetic Retinopathy -
How to Protect Your Eyes
Taking care of your eyes is very important
for everybody but particularly if you have diabetes. If you have diabetes and
do not control your blood sugar levels then persistently high blood sugar levels
can slowly lead to damage to the eyes. This damage is often called diabetic retinopathy.
It is a major cause of blindness in working age people in the Western world.
How does eye damage occur? Diabetic retinopathy occurs when
some of the smallest blood vessels in the retina (the seeing part of the eye)
become blocked or start to leak or bleed. Having persistently high blood glucose
can be the cause of the damage to these vessels.
Symptoms of diabetic
retinopathy
The damage to the blood vessels in the retina can be painless
and may not initially affect vision but if left untreated can damage vision. Retinopathy
develops over time and generally there are no obvious symptoms until it is well
advanced.
How to treat diabetic retinopathy Retinopathy can
be treated with laser surgery and vision loss can be prevented if the damage is
caught early enough. The surgery is generally pain free. However, laser surgery
cannot restore any vision that has already been lost. How to prevent
diabetic retinopathy The best way to protect yourself against diabetic
retinopathy is to keep your blood glucose levels as near as normal as possible.
Monitor your blood glucose levels regularly to make sure you can detect when levels
are persistently high. Also, you should have a check for retinopathy at least
once a year as a part of the regular annual diabetes review. Early detection is
the key to successful treatment.
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