Eye Health Risks Come with Diabetes

Living with diabetes increases your risk of potentially-severe eye diseases like glaucoma and cataracts while making you susceptible to diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema. Not all these problems come with symptoms at first, so your eye doctor plays a critical role in protecting your eye health and vision from them.

If you’re among the millions of people across the US with diabetes, you need to be extra proactive about your eye care. Trust our eye doctors to quickly find signs of diabetic eye diseases and take steps to treat or manage them.

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Eye Health Risks for People with Diabetes

Diabetic Retinopathy

When you have diabetes, the blood vessels that supply your retina can be damaged by high blood sugar. The resulting problem is called diabetic retinopathy.

Diabetic retinopathy can obscure your vision as blood from the damaged vessels leaks into your eyes. But it can also cause retinal detachment and permanent vision loss if new blood vessels grow and create scar tissue.

Diabetic Macular Edema

Diabetic retinopathy can also cause fluid to build up inside the macula, the part of your retina essential for central vision. This fluid buildup leads to diabetic macular edema.

A swollen or otherwise damaged macula can make many tasks that use your central vision difficult or impossible. You might lose your ability to drive, read, write, recognize faces, or more.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases with several different forms and results in optic nerve damage. Most cases of glaucoma involve high intraocular pressure and develop slowly without symptoms until your vision is permanently affected.

If you have diabetes, your risk doubles for the most common kind of glaucoma. Frequent visits to your eye doctor can help detect glaucoma early and give you strategies for preserving your vision.

Cataracts

Cataracts develop when proteins form clusters in the lens of your eye, turning it cloudy and obscuring your vision. Advanced cataracts can spread throughout the entire lens and cause total blindness.

If you have diabetes, you’re more likely to develop cataracts sooner than most other people. However, your eye doctor may be able to refer you to an ophthalmologist who can restore your vision with cataract surgery.

Booking Diabetic Eye Exams

If you have diabetes, you’ll need to have your eyes examined more often than other people. We recommend booking an appointment at our practice at least once a year so we can monitor your condition and act fast to address any new developments.Don’t let diabetic eye disease get the best of you. Book an eye exam with us and protect your eyes today.

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