What are the symptoms of Diabetic Retinopathy?
There are a few tell tale symptoms of diabetic retinopathy. Wait, what is diabetic retinopathy? Diabetic retinopathy is a serious medical condition that can lead to loss of vision. It is caused by microscopic damage to the retinal blood vessels, which causes them to become leaky. One of the main contributing factors to developing diabetic retinopathy is uncontrolled blood sugar that leads to increased damage to the retinal blood vessels.
If you’ve had diabetes for many years, you may be at higher risk for diabetic retinopathy. People with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes are both at risk for developing diabetic retinopathy. It is important to let your eye doctor know if you are diabetic, and specifically which type you know that you have. Knowing this in advance can help your doctor and you catch this condition early, which always leads to better end results.
Ok, so other than just being diabetic, what are the symptoms of diabetic retinopathy to look out for?
Though vision may gradually become blurred, significant loss of sight does not usually occur with non-proliferative retinopathy. Since the patient does not experience pain or external symptoms such as bloodshot eyes or discharge, changes in the retina can go unnoticed unless detected by an eye exam. However, if abnormalities occur in the peripheral retina, the patient may not experience any symptoms.
Please let us know if you are having any of the following symptoms:
Vision fluctuations
Blurred vision
Poor to little ability to see at night
Seeing spots or floaters
Clouding or complete loss of sight
Distortion of vision
Any of these symptoms should raise an alarm for you to schedule an exam to have your eyes checked out- even if it is not time for your yearly exam just yet. If you have diabetes, we recommend getting a dilated eye exam at least once a year to look for signs of diabetic retinopathy or other vision problems, even if you aren’t currently experiencing any symptoms. If you are diabetic and are considering getting pregnant, please make an appointment with us to establish a baseline for your care.
Is diabetic retinopathy reversible?
Unfortunately, we cannot completely reverse diabetic retinopathy. There is currently no simple “quick fix” cure for diabetic retinopathy, but there are several ways to prevent a worsening of your symptoms and protect your vision. Your treatment will depend on the severity of your diabetic retinopathy.
If you have only minor damage to your blood vessels, we will care for you with regular monitoring and managing of your diabetes through diet and exercise. Early detection is often the best way of protecting your eyes from serious damage from diabetic retinopathy.
If your diabetic retinopathy is more advanced, a laser procedure may be recommended. During your surgery one of our doctors will use photocoagulation to seal leaking blood vessels and prevent further tissue damage. This is a specialized surgery that not all eye doctors preform, however here at Perich Eye Centers, there are doctors who can perform this surgery.
Other cases of diabetic retinopathy may require an intraocular surgery called a vitrectomy. This procedure involves the removal of the vitreous, a gel-like fluid inside the eye. Saline liquid, or a gas or silicone oil bubble, will be used to replace this fluid and stabilize pressure in the eye.
If one eye is affected, the other eye is also frequently affected. This is why it is important to take any changes seriously- even when it only seems to be one eye with an issue. It is easy to think you have just gotten something in your eyes that will correct itself. However if you have the same or similar types of issues for more than a day, you really need to contact your eye doctor to have things looked at.
If you are unhappy with your current eye doctor experience, please feel free to contact us here at Perich Eye. We have years of experience and take care of you as an individual, not just another club member number. Remember early detection is always key, and you are the best advocate for your own eyes and health!
