Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes, caused by high blood sugar levels damaging the back of the eye (retina). It can cause blindness if left undiagnosed and untreated. However, it usually takes several years for diabetic retinopathy to reach a stage where it could threaten your sight.
It usually takes between 5 to 10 years to develop a diabetic eye disease. However, that doesn't mean that you're in the clear before then. Uncontrolled blood sugar can result in eye damage long before symptoms appear, and diabetic eye disease can result in severe sight loss or even blindness at any stage.
Your eyes may seem fine, but having a full, dilated eye exam is the only way to know for sure. Often, there are no warning signs of diabetic eye disease or vision loss when damage first develops. A full, dilated eye exam helps your doctor find and treat eye problems early—often before much vision loss can occur.
Damage caused by diabetic retinopathy is typically permanent. This condition isn't fully reversible, but some treatments may help bring some of your vision back. While treatments aren't likely to return your vision, your eye doctor can help prevent your vision from worsening.
Although many people with diabetes develop impaired vision, fewer than 5% suffer severe vision loss.
Blurred Vision
High blood sugar levels cause swelling in the lens of the eye, temporarily causing changes in vision. The common remedy to this condition is simply getting blood sugar levels back into a target range. Before meals, this range is between 70-130 mg/dL. After meals, the target range is 180 mg/dL.
In later stages of the disease, blood vessels in the retina start to bleed into the vitreous (gel-like fluid that fills your eye). If this happens, you may see dark, floating spots or streaks that look like cobwebs. Sometimes, the spots clear up on their own — but it's important to get treatment right away.
Blurry Vision
These symptoms can be corrected by seeking appropriate treatments that ensure your blood sugar levels are back within the normal range. In most cases, it takes about 3 months for the blurring to reduce and the eyesight to get back to normal.
The four diabetic retinopathy stages are classified as mild, moderate, and severe nonproliferative and proliferative.
Typically, diabetic patients will develop diabetic retinopathy after they have had diabetes for between 3-5 years. In the early stages, diabetic retinopathy will not affect the sight, but if it is not treated and progresses, eventually the sight will be affected.
Get a dilated eye exam at least once a year and share the results with your primary care doctor. In this exam, you will get eye drops to make your pupils larger.
Stage 1: Mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy
This is the earliest stage of diabetic retinopathy, characterized by tiny areas of swelling in the blood vessels of the retina. These areas of swelling are known as micro aneurysms.
Can diabetic retinopathy be reversed? No, but it doesn't have to lead to blindness, either. If you catch it early enough, you can prevent it from taking your vision. That's why it's vital to have regular visits with an Ophthalmologist or Optometrist who's familiar with diabetes and retina treatment.
While treatment can slow or stop the progression of diabetic retinopathy, it's not a cure. Because diabetes is a lifelong condition, future retinal damage and vision loss are still possible. Even after treatment for diabetic retinopathy, you'll need regular eye exams. At some point, you might need additional treatment.
Another potential effect from diabetes is swelling of the eye lens, leading to blurry vision. If your blood sugar levels change quickly from low to normal, the shape of your eye's lens can be affected and your vision can be blurred. Your vision goes back to normal after your blood sugar stabilizes.
First, the numbers. “Post-meal blood sugars of 140 mg/dl [milligrams per deciliter] and higher, and fasting blood sugars over 100 mg/dl [can] cause permanent organ damage and cause diabetes to progress,” Ruhl writes.
The tiny blood vessels that nourish the retina can be damaged by diabetes. The damage can cause the blood vessels to become leaky, like a water hose with holes in it. This is called non-proliferative retinopathy. Fluid leaks out of the blood vessels and into the retinal tissue which can cause vision problems.
One of the common signs of diabetes mellitus is blurred vision, which refers to the loss of sharpness of vision and the inability to see fine details. Blurred vision can affect one eye (unilateral blurred vision) or both (bilateral blurred vision) eyes, and can occur often or rarely.
Metformin has also been connected to improving eyesight in patients who have diabetic retinopathy. Researchers writing in the American Journal of Translational Research in 2017 investigated the underlying mechanisms of how metformin both delayed the development and reduced the severity of diabetic retinopathy.
Inflammation and high blood sugar can affect your entire body, including your eyes. When you have high blood sugar, your eye lenses will swell, which in turn brings about problems such as blurry vision. Studies have proven this effect, and those with chronic high blood sugar problems are more at risk for eye disease.
This blurred vision cannot be fixed with glasses. With further damage to the retinal blood vessels, the retina will become oxygen depleted. This results in the growth of abnormal new blood vessels, a condition known as neovascularization.
diabetic retinopathy doesn't tend to cause any symptoms in the early stages. the condition can cause permanent blindness if not diagnosed and treated promptly. screening can detect problems in your eyes before they start to affect your vision. if problems are caught early, treatment can help prevent or reduce vision ...
You can reduce your risk of developing diabetic retinopathy, or help stop it getting worse, by keeping your blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol levels under control. This can often be done by making healthy lifestyle choices, although some people will also need to take medication.