Diabetic retinopathy
Diabetes
About Diabetes
Diabetes is originally a disease that causes disorders of blood vessels, and the retina of the eye is covered with fine blood vessels. Therefore, diabetic retinopathy is more common than expected. Diabetic retinopathy refers to diabetes causing retinopathy. It is estimated that about 10% of patients who have been suffering from diabetes for five years will start to have diabetic retinopathy even if the diabetes condition is stable. The longer you suffer from diabetes, the higher risk you got diabetic retinopathy.
In patients with diabetic retinopathy, due to the leakage of fine blood vessels in the fundus, the optic nerve cells died gradually. As a result, their eyesight gradually dropped, and even completely lost their vision.
Do the patients know they got diabetic retinopathy?
Many diabetics think that their eyesight is normal and their eyes are not red or painful, so they are taken lightly and unconsciously. In fact, as long as it does not affect the central vision, the patient may not notice any obvious symptoms. Without regular check-ups, diabetic retinopathy can be getting worse and eyesight may be permanently damaged.
Types of
Diabetes
1. Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy
It belongs to early to moderate diabetic retinopathy. Due to the damages of retinal blood vessels, bleeding and blood proteins will appear in the fundus, and the blood vessel wall may also bulge like a balloon. Patients with this type of diabetic retinopathy generally maintain normal vision, but if the bleeding close to the macula, the patient may feel blurry of vision. If there is non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, the patient must effectively control the diabetes and do regular eye examinations to prevent the condition from getting worse and further affecting vision.
2. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy
In severe cases, the retinal blood vessels are occluded, resulting in hypoxia of the retina. Some abnormal blood vessels will proliferate on the retina or optic nerve head to provide extra oxygen to the retina. However, the newly formed blood vessels are easy to rupture, and if the bleeding at the time of rupture gets into the vitreous, it will cause blurred vision. If the bleeding cannot be controlled in time, in worse case may cause retinal detachment. New blood vessels may also form in front of the crystalline lens, blocking the drainage channel of anterior eye, and causing increase in intraocular pressure, leading to secondary glaucoma.
Diabetic
retinopathy examination
Because the symptoms of early diabetic retinopathy are not obvious, all diabetic patients should have a fundus examination at least once a year to prevent the condition from getting worse and causing vision loss due to delayed treatment.
During the examination of diabetic retinopathy, the patient will undergo a dilated fundus examination and fundus photos should be taken to assess its grading. Pupil dilating eye drops will make the patient’s vision slightly blurred. After about 3-4 hours, the effect will dissipate and the vision will return to normal.
Diabetics must try to keep blood sugar at a normal level, and control diet and exercise regularly.
