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The following article was published in Your Health Magazine. Our mission is to empower people to live healthier.
Omar Ahmad, MD
New Year’s Retinal Resolutions
Chesapeake Retina Centers

New Year’s Retinal Resolutions

Retinal diseases do not often follow any particular timeline and are often unexpected and emergent. Still, there are resolutions that you can make to try to help reduce the chances.

What Is Diabetic Retinopathy?

The retina is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. A healthy retina is necessary for good vision. Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness in American adults. Retinal damage is caused by a complex set of events that start with damage to the retinal blood vessels. When this happens, the retina does not get the amount of blood it requires to function and stay healthy. It also does not get as much oxygen it needs and parts of the retina become damaged. As part of this damage and inflammation, the blood vessels may swell and leak fluid into the retina, abnormal new blood vessels can grow into the retina, or the vessels may simply close off altogether (“stroke of the eye”). In a simple sense, the problems with the retina are no different than other complications associated with diabetes. If the blood vessels that supply other organs are damaged, there is disease to those organs.

Who Is At Risk For Diabetic Retinopathy?

All people with diabetes, both type 1 and type 2, are at risk. For this reason, everyone with diabetes should get a comprehensive dilated eye exam at least once a year. The amount or severity of diabetic eye disease is not always correlated to how well the diabetes and blood sugars are controlled. This means that even if the diabetes is well controlled, damage to the blood vessels in the eye can still occur. The longer someone has diabetes, the more likely there are changes in the eye due to diabetes. Nearly half of Americans diagnosed with diabetes have some degree of diabetic retinopathy.

During pregnancy, blood sugars may be difficult to control and diabetic retinopathy may worsen. To protect vision, every pregnant woman with diabetes should have a comprehensive dilated eye exam as soon as possible. Depending on the initial exam, additional exams during the pregnancy may be recommended.

Does Diabetic Retinopathy Have Any Symptoms?

There are many symptoms associated with diabetic retinopathy. The vision can be mildly or severely affected. Many times, however, there are no immediate symptoms. The fact that the vision is not reduced, may cause a false sense of security that there is no diabetic retinopathy. This is not always the case and there can be significant damage to the retina and irreversible damage by the time the vision is affected. The severity of the visual symptoms, or unaffected vision are not good indicators of the presence of retinal damage from diabetes.

How Can I Protect My Vision?

If you have diabetes get a comprehensive dilated eye exam at least once a year with your eye doctor.

If you have diabetic retinopathy, you may require an eye exam more often. Your eye doctor may even ask you to see a retina specialist. People with diabetic retinopathy can reduce their risk of blindness by 95% with timely treatment and appropriate follow up care.

The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and many other studies have shown that better control of blood sugar levels slows the onset and progression of retinopathy. The best chances at preserving vision are with good diabetic control.

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