Preventing Diabetic Vision Loss

[Sofia ella]

Diabetes affects your entire body. It can make you susceptible to disease, and cause you to heal slowly. Diabetes can damage many areas of your body, including your eyes. With proper care diabetes does not have to severely damage your vision. In order to prevent visual loss Diabetic need to visit the eye doctor regularly.

The guidelines your ophthalmologist would like you to follow will be to maintain your blood sugar A1C at or below 7. A1C. This differs from your daily blood sugar checks because it measures long term sugar control and the damage elevated sugar is doing to your body. A1C checks are generally performed every three to six months by a routine blood test in a lab. 

Both your daily testing with a glucometer and your A1C numbers by your primary care doctor are important. If your diabetes is well controlled, your primary care physician will help you with suggestions for diet and exercise and prescribing medication. For some people diabetes does not respond well to these measures. That is when you will want to see a diabetes educator and an endocrinologist. An endocrinologist is a specialist in the study of the glands that promote hormones, like the pancreas. 

Your eye doctor is a partner in treating your diabetes. Eye exams will often include checks for glaucoma, which is increased pressure in the eye. This prevents proper drainage of the fluids inside the eye, causing elevated eye pressure and eventual visual loss. People with diabetes are 40X more likely to get glaucoma than people without it

Diabetics are 60% more likely to develop cataracts at an early age and have them progress faster and become worse more quickly. Cataracts are the condition where the lens of the eye becomes cloudy. It is ultimately treated by surgically removing the clouded lens and replacing it. 

Your retina is the screen at the back of your eye that picks up images and sends them to your brain. If your blood sugar is not well controlled the blood vessels in the retina will be fragile. They may burst and leave scar tissue or otherwise obscure your vision. If your eye doctor discovers you have retinopathy you may be sent to a doctor that specializes in the care of retinas. 

Having diabetes calls for extra attention and care for your entire body. Protect your vision by seeing a medical doctor regularly to monitor your A1C. Your physician will also ask if you have seen an eye doctor. People with diabetes who keep their blood sugar and blood pressure in control may be fine with annual eye exams. If you have risk factors for any of these eye diseases, your eye doctor will want to see you more often. These exams are medical exams, just like a yearly physical. Your insurance should help pay for them. 

Proactively care for your vision by eating well and keeping medical appointments. You would need to find an ophthalmologist near you or one of the best eye doctor near you to attend to your regular eye health. Should you develop symptoms like blurry vision, black spots before your eyes, headaches or eye pain, call your ophthalmologist for an appointment. Vision loss is not inevitable. There are medical interventions and medicines that preserve your eyesight if the problem is found in its early stages.

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