Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy

Find a Diabetic Retinopathy Doctor at Eyes.com While many people are familiar with the very common disease, diabetes, few may fully realize the drastic toll diabetes can take on the human body, including your eyes. Diabetes is a disease characterized by the body not producing insulin or not properly using insulin. Insulin is the hormone that is necessary to convert sugar and starches into the energy we need to live. Though the exact cause of diabetes is not fully understood at this time, it is most dangerous when it goes both undiagnosed and untreated.

Statistics

According to the American Diabetes Association, approximately 7.8% of the American population has diabetes (almost 24 million children and adults). It is estimated that six million Americans have diabetes but are unaware they have this disease.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is the general term given to disorders of the retina that are caused by diabetes. The two types of diabetic retinopathy are nonproliferative and proliferative with the former being the most common. In some people, nonproliferative retinopathy can progress into the much more serious, proliferative retinopathy.

In nonproliferative retinopathy, capillaries in the back of the eye balloon up and form pouches. If the capillary walls lose their ability to control the passage of substances between the blood and the retina, macular edema may occur. When the macula is swollen with fluid, blurry vision and loss of vision may occur, but when macular edema is caught early, proper treatment may prevent and even reverse vision loss.

In proliferative retinopathy, the blood vessels have completely closed off, and new blood vessels begin to grow in the retina. These new vessels cause scar tissue to form, causing the retina to become distorted or pulled out of place (retinal detachment).

Unfortunately, nonproliferative retinopathy often produces no symptoms; even with proliferative retinopathy, there are sometimes no symptoms. When the symptoms do appear, it is usually too late to treat the devastating condition. Because of this, if you have diabetes, it is imperative to have regular eye exams to ensure early detection and treatment.

Treatment

There has been significant progress in developing treatments for diabetic retinopathy. treatment results are best when your vision is still good. The most popular treatments for diabetic retinopathy that work to prevent blindness are:

Scatter photocoagulation
Focal photocoagulation
Vitrectomy

If you have diabetes or are concerned you might have diabetes, you should be tested by your physician as soon as possible. If you are already suffering from diabetic retinopathy, an experienced eye care professional can assess the damage and discuss viable treatment options with you.