When diabetes is not adequately controlled, with careful diet or ingestion of the medicines prescribed by the endocrinologist, blood sugar levels can be elevated for a long time, causing progressive damage to the retina and blood vessels of the eyes, which leads to blurred vision, difficulty seeing and, in more advanced cases, blindness. See everything you can do to control your sugar levels.
In addition, these changes in vision, scientifically known as diabetic retinopathy, can be aggravated when you have another disease such as high blood pressure, kidney problems or high cholesterol, for example.
Diabetic retinopathy can be divided into 2 different types:
- Nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy: it is the least serious type of problem that presents only small lesions in the blood vessels of the eye; Proliferative diabetic retinopathy: it is the most serious type that causes the appearance of more fragile vessels in the eye, which can rupture, worsening vision or causing blindness.
This change in vision caused by diabetes has no cure, but its evolution and worsening can be prevented with the use of some treatments recommended by the ophthalmologist, such as laser or conventional surgery.
What are the most common symptoms
The main symptoms of diabetic retinopathy include:
- Small black dots or lines in vision; Blurred vision; Dark spots in vision; Difficulty seeing; Difficulty identifying different colors
However, these symptoms are not always easy to identify before the onset of blindness and, therefore, it is very important that people suffering from diabetes keep their sugar levels well controlled and make regular visits to the eye doctor to assess their eye health.
Treatment options available
Treatment should always be guided by an ophthalmologist and usually varies according to the patient's severity and type of retinopathy, and in cases of nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy the doctor can choose only to monitor the evolution of the problem without doing any specific type of treatment.
In cases of proliferative diabetic retinopathy, it is usually necessary to have surgery or laser treatments to eliminate the new blood vessels that are forming in the eye or to stop bleeding, if it is happening.
However, the patient must always maintain adequate treatment of diabetes to avoid worsening retinopathy, even in cases of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
In addition to retinopathy, diabetes can also cause other complications such as diabetic foot, see how to protect yourself from diabetes complications.
