How Does Diabetes Affect Your Eyes? | Why Eye Exam Is Important When Living With Diabetes?

How Does Diabetes Affect Your Eyes? | Why Eye Exam Is Important When Living With Diabetes?

Yes. You should plan to make regular eye doctor visits when you have diabetes. In fact, diabetes is the primary cause of blindness in adults ages 20 to 74. Diabetes is a serious disease that can affect many aspects of the body — the heart and kidneys, blood circulation and even the eyes.

According to a survey by the American Optometric Association, 55 percent of people are unaware that diabetic eye disease often has no visual signs or symptoms.

Additionally, 44 percent of Americans don’t know that a person with diabetes should have a comprehensive eye exam once a year, including a retina (dilated) eye exam.Yet, these exams are the only way to diagnose serious eye diseases associated with diabetes at its early stage.

Diabetic eye disease refers to the group of eye conditions that can result from diabetes. These include:

1. Diabetic Retinopathy
Damage to small blood vessels in your retina causes diabetic retinopathy.
It's related to high blood sugar levels. If you don’t find and treat it early, you could go blind.The longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to get it.
2. Glaucoma. One form of glaucoma, neovascular glaucoma, is caused by diabetes. High sugar levels can damage the retina’s blood vessels and result in the creation of abnormal new ones.
3. Cataracts. Cataracts can form earlier and progress faster in people with diabetes due to the increase of sugar in the blood.

To keep your vision sharp, you’ll want to take great care of your health so you can avoid problems related to diabetes.Use these tips to take charge of your disease and protect your eyes:

1. Eat for wellness. Go for fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein.
2. If you smoke, quit. Lighting up causes problems with your blood vessels, which makes you more likely to end up with eye trouble.
3. Move more. Exercise can have a big influence on blood sugar.
4. Keep your blood sugar under control. If you do that, you can slow any damage to the tiny blood vessels in your eyes.
5. Keep high blood pressure in check. It can lead to eye disease, too. If you have high blood pressure and diabetes, you need to be even more careful about your health. Ask your doctor to check your blood pressure at every visit. For most people with diabetes, it should be less than 130/80.