Diabetic Eye Disease
We successfully treat Diabetic Eye Disease for our patients. Please make an appointment today to learn more about how we can help you or your loved ones.
What is Diabetic Eye Disease?
Diabetic retinopathy occurs when high blood sugar damages blood vessels in the retina. Damaged blood vessels begin to leak fluid causing swelling in the retina that translates to blurry vision. In addition, abnormal vessels start to grow within the retina that can easily break and bleed causing major damage and scarring that can lead to blindness.
Fortunately diabetic retinopathy can be avoided and/or treated to preserve good vision.
If blood sugars are treated and monitored, diabetic eye disease will not develop. Concurrent poorly controlled high blood pressure can also accelerate and contribute to diabetic eye disease, so good blood pressure control goes a long way to help prevent diabetic eye disease.
What Are Symptoms of Diabetic Eye Disease?
Often there are no early symptoms of diabetic eye disease. You may have no pain and no change in your vision as damage begins to grow inside your eyes, particularly with diabetic retinopathy.
When symptoms do occur, they may include:
blurry or wavy vision
frequently changing vision
poor color vision
spots or dark strings (also called floaters)
flashes of light
You should see a doctor right away if you have any of these symptoms as treatments are available.
Treatments for Diabetic Eye Disease
A complete dilated eye exam will reveal if diabetic retinopathy is present and help guide treatment options. Specialized tests like OCT of the retina, help determine the extent of disease and monitor treatment progress.
Anti VEGF medications are frequently used to treat diabetic retinopathy and can restore and reverse some of the damage.
Laser photocoagulation is also used to stabilize the retina. The laser can reduce the amount of leaking from the damaged blood vessels. It can also help reduce the drive for abnormal vessel growth which causes the most damage in diabetic retinopathy.
In more advanced disease, surgery can be utilized to help prevent blindness. Vitrectomy, which is removal of the clear gel that fills the center of the eye, can treat severe bleeding and scar tissue formation.
With timely diagnosis and treatment, poor vision and blindness can be completely prevented with all our treatment modalities available to us.
