Diabetes and its Effects on Eyesight
What does a common man refer diabetes to? Sugar? Glucose? It actually doesn’t mean just this. Diabetes is actually a multi-organ disease affecting all the parts of the body at the same time. Eyes are one of the important organs that get affected. The disease has certain side-effects that can be prevented or at least delayed with major course of actions.
When blood vessels at the back of the eyes are affected, the technical term is called diabetic retinopathy. The progression of diabetic retinopathy starts out with normal eyesight, which then becomes blurred, patchy, or distorted. These vision changes cannot be corrected with corrective lenses. Next, one may experience problems with their balance, problems reading, watching television, or recognizing people. Lastly one could become highly sensitive to limelight and experience difficulties with night vision.
The prediction of retinal disease is not possible at time when a person is diagnosed with diabetes. However, about two-thirds of people with juvenile-onset diabetes (type 1 diabetes) will develop some significant retinal disease by 35 years after they’ve been diagnosed. One-third will develop swelling in their central area of vision. This is known as macular oedema.
Patients who have had diabetes for thirty years, rely on insulin shots, or do not take steps to manage their diabetes are most likely to develop some form of retinal disease. For persons between the ages of 25 years to 74 years of age, diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness. In the United States each year, more than twelve percent of the new cases of blindness reported are due to diabetes. Other ethnic groups report higher rates. In Mexico, of the twenty percent of patients that were referred to endocrinologist or diabetologists, forty percent of them suffered from sight threatening problems.
Diabetes related blindness is one of the complicating factors for metabolic disease. Many people in this world don’t even come to know that they are suffering form diabetes. For the welfare of the patients some screening programs should be implemented which would take care and give attention towards the sugar level testing.
More and more people should be reached with the help of mobile clinics by the public health screenings. NGOs should also lend a helping hand in arranging these programs thereby screening people at various places for a long time. There should be a system under which patients suffering with diabetes should be followed up at each primary healthcare centre with the help of ministry of health.
In order to control diabetes, patients need to gain control of this disease that is afflicting their body. By gaining control of diabetes, it can prevent complications, or detect conditions before they become severe enough to cause loss of vision. In cases where the damage is already started, diabetes control and treatment can prevent the damage from becoming much worse. Obtaining yearly eye exams for patients with diabetes is highly recommended, this differs from persons that do not have diabetes, who should get eye exams every two years. Should you experience symptoms such as sudden onset of blurred vision, seek medical attention immediately.
Filed under: Disease & Illness