Diabetic Retinopathy Made Easy

I was looking around the internet the other day, for information on diabetic retinopathy. I have type 2 diabetes and my vision is awfully blurry. I naturally was curious about this rather devastating complication, and I have been reading up on it. A lot of useful information is out there, but quite a bit of it is written from an acadmic bent.  While I can follow most of that discussion, I know that a lot of diabetics who will not be able to do so. Some of the same worries that I had, but will be overwhelmed and confused by the charts and big words. Because of that I have wriiten this article with simple language and uncomplicated explanations about Dealing with Diabetic Retinopathy.

What is Diabetic Retinopathy?

The back of your eye is called the retina, and it is fragile. You need it because it is how your brain gets the information that lets you see. Diabetics can damage this part of the eye, especially when  their blood sugar levels have been long for several years (like 7-10 years). Diabetic Retinopathy is a term used to describe bunch of different eye problems with big names that impact the retina. What you need to know is that you can break the tiny blood vessels and get blood in your eye, and swelling. Your vision gets real blurry. If the damage goes on long enough, the eye grows some new even more fragile blood vessels, and these can break and make things a whole lot worse.

How Can I Know If I Have Retinopathy?

You can have this retinopathy and not have any symptoms at all. That is one reason you are advised to see an eye doctor once/year if you have diabetes. If you do get symptoms it would be dry and blurry eyes, difficulty seeing fine details of things, and for some people, floaters. Floaters and dark spots can be more or less permanent changes in your vision that are kind of like having something in your eye, only it is always there, and do not get better. You can still see, and get used to it eventually, and it is often caused by blood that has leaked into the eye. Floaters do not necessarily mean you have retinopathy, as you can get them as part of the aging process.

Treatment Options

Many times all that is need is regular check ups with the ophthalmologist. If they are on top of it, you are in their care. They will at the very least insist you get your blood sugar and cholesterol under control, and get some exercise and diet routines. You likely will be put on a statin and other drugs to manage your diabetes. But diabetic retinopathy can cause blindness, and in diabetics is a major cause of loss of eyesight in adults. If your retinopathy has progressed that far, it is possible that you will need surgery, or laser treatment. One newer treatment that has been somewhat successful when lasers are not possible, is freezing  the eye to make some needed changes.

Other Eye Problems in Diabetes

Diabetics are more likely to get cataracts, which require surgery to replace the lens with an artificial one.  They are also twice as likely to get glaucoma. Macular edema is another problem that may require attention, either as part of diabetic retinopathy, or as a problem outside that diabetic process.