Diabetes can play havoc with your eyes, and sometimes there are
no early sumptoms. So you may have no idea anything is wrong
until your eyesight is in danger.
Here are the main eye problems that can be caused, or made
worse, by diabetes.
Cataracts
These are often described as a clouding of the lens of the eye.
They are treatable by surgery in most cases.
Glaucoma
Our eyes are largely made up of fluid, and when the pressure of
that fluid builds up too much inside the eye, you have glaucoma.
Left untreated, it can damage the optic nerves, and even lead to
blindness.
Diabetic retinopathy
Lining the back of our eyes is light-sensitive tissue known as
the retina. The retina contains very small blood vessels that
can be damaged by diabetic retinopathy. Sometimes there are
symptoms such as blurred vision, but often you won't even know
anything is wrong until the condition is well advanced. In the
worse case, it leads to blindness.
Early detection is the key to battling all of these conditions,
and the best diagnostic tool available is the dilated eye
examination. This is a test in which special eye drops
temporarily enlarge your pupils, allowing the doctor to see the
back of your eyes. This test (which is painless) can detect
cataracts, glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy in their early,
treatable stages.
Eyesight is precious, so if you have diabetes do yourself a
favor and make an appointment for your dilated eye examination.
And then do it again every year from now on.
About the author:
Bob Fleming suffers from Type 2 diabetes, but he does everything
he can to suffer as little as possible! Visit his website at
http://www.thediabetesinfoplace.com for informative articles and
resources, and sign up to receive
Bob's free weekly
diabetic-friendly dessert recipe!
