Diabetes and Eye Health: Know the Connection

A million or so suffer from a chronic disease that changes how their body deals with blood sugar, or glucose, in the global population. Many associate it with being prone to heart disease and problems with the kidneys, but far fewer know that diabetes significantly impacts eye health. It is one of the most critically important things that one needs to be aware of because uncontrolled diabetes has a danger of causing various types of serious vision loss-including blindness. So let’s talk about diabetes and eye health, the risks, and how to save your vision.

How Does Diabetes Affect the Eyes?

Diabetes can damage blood vessels throughout your body, even in the retina light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. This condition is called diabetic retinopathy and is one of the most common serious complications related to diabetes. When the blood sugar level becomes extremely high, it can cause these vessels to leak or block some of them which affects the flow of blood that normally occurs to the retina. This condition can cause vision problems, which may become permanent if not treated in time.

Other Diabetic Associated Eye Disorders

Diabetic Macular Edema (DME): It involves the macula in the centre of the retina through its swelling and fluid accumulation that creates thickness and hazy vision.
Cataracts: Patients suffering from diabetes mostly develop early cataracts. The lens present in the eye becomes cloudy which worsens one’s field of vision.
Glaucoma: Diabetes can doubly and triply a patient’s threat of creating glaucoma-that is, a group of conditions damaging the optic nerve. If not treated in time, it can cause irreversible blindness.

Risk Factors for Diabetic Eye Complications

Diabetics face a risk of eye complications and the chances of problems developing increase with longer durations of diabetes and poorly controlled blood glucose levels.
Duration of diabetes: The Longer You Have Had Diabetes, the greater your chances are of having Retinopathy and other eye problems
Blood Glucose Level: Poorly controlled blood glucose worsens eye damage.
High Blood Pressure and Cholesterol: Most diabetic patients suffer from high blood pressure and cholesterol levels that result in worse complications with the eyes because of compression of the blood vessels from the condition.
Pregnancy: Pregnant women or women infected with gestational diabetes or any other type of diabetes may be more susceptible to complications because of diabetic retinopathy.
Ethnicity: African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans are at a higher risk of developing severe eye complications.

Symptoms to Watch Out For

Diabetic eye diseases often begin without noticeable symptoms at first. “Most important,” Sanders says, “is regular eye check-up,” particularly if you feel any of the following:

• Distorted or double vision
• Dark spots or floaters
• Vision problems in low lighting
• Loss of vision
• Sudden or new loss of vision in one eye or both eyes
• Flashes of light

In this case, it is very important to see an eye specialist as soon as possible.

Preventing Diabetic Eye Disease

The good news is that eye complications, most of which are preventable if kept under the right management. It includes the following essential steps to keep your vision safe:
Regular Eye Examination: All diabetics must undergo a comprehensive eye examination, including dilation, every year. Early detection is better than prevention.
Maintain Your Blood Sugar Under Good Control: Maintaining good control of blood glucose at all times significantly lessens the likelihood of damage to your eyes. Monitor your blood sugar with CGM Devices that are available on our website at  CGM Monitors
Manage Blood Pressure and Cholesterol: Even diabetes can do more damage to the blood vessels in your eyes if you have high blood pressure and cholesterol. Maintaining your other risk factors in control by a healthy diet and regular physical activity will help.
Quit Smoking: If you smoke, diabetes complications, including eyesight damage, accelerate more quickly. Quitting smoking will significantly enhance your health and help you reduce the chances of acquiring diabetic eye diseases.
Healthy Diet and Exercise: Such a diet rich in foods full of antioxidants and low in processed sugars. It will keep the sugar in your blood in balance while being watchful of your eyes. Regular exercise tends to improve general circulation flow, making it good for enhancing eye health as well.

Treatment Options

However, if you have already caught diabetes and eye health-related conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, there are treatments for these.

• Laser Therapy: In fact, the leaking blood vessels are sealed and subsequent damage is prevented by lasers
• Injections: Actually, some drugs can be injected into the eye and may even hinder the inflammation thereby slowing the disease
• Surgery: Surgery must be done in the advanced stage of diabetic retinopathy. Where scar tissue is removed and hence the vision is restored.

However, such treatments are most effective when applied at the earliest stage of the condition. This highlights the importance of performing regular eye exams.

Conclusion

Diabetes need not cause one to lose eyesight. Observant control over sugar, regulation of blood and treatment of other health disorders related to diabetes and periodic eye check-ups can prevent complications of diabetes. So, if you are suffering from diabetes, take some extra special care in preserving your eyes so that you may have crystal clear vision in future and have good health.

Take care of your eye today, and it will be part of self-care for diabetes and a brighter, clearer tomorrow.