Diabetic Retinopathy – This common eye disease is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults. Diabetic retinopathy is caused when high blood sugar damages blood vessels in the retina (a light-sensitive layer of cells in the back of the eye).
Damaged blood vessels can swell and leak, causing blurry vision or stopping blood flow. Sometimes new blood vessels grow, but they aren’t normal and can cause further vision problems. Diabetic retinopathy usually affects both eyes. Anyone with,, or (diabetes while pregnant) can develop diabetic retinopathy.
The longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to develop it. These factors can also increase your risk:
, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels that are too high. Smoking. Race/ethnicity: African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and American Indians/Alaska Natives are at higher risk.
If you have diabetic retinopathy, low-vision aids such as magnifying glasses and special lenses can help. Ask your eye doctor to refer you to a, Diabetic retinopathy has 2 main stages: Early stage (nonproliferative): Blood vessel walls in the retina weaken and bulge, forming tiny pouches (you won’t be able to detect them, but your eye doctor can).
These pouches can leak blood and other fluid, which can cause a part of the retina called the macula to swell (macular edema) and distort your vision. Macular edema is the most common cause of blindness in people with diabetic retinopathy. About half of people with diabetic retinopathy will develop macular edema.
Advanced stage (proliferative): In this stage, the retina begins to grow new blood vessels. These new vessels are fragile and often bleed into the vitreous (the clear gel between the lens and retina). With minor bleeding, you may see a few dark spots that float in your vision.
Blurry vision Spots or dark shapes in your vision (floaters) Trouble seeing colors Dark or empty areas in your vision Vision loss
What are the chances of going blind from diabetes?
What Percentage of People With Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy Go Blind? – According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), around a third of the global diabetes population of 463 million will develop some form of eye health complication that could have devastating and wide ranging social and economic impact if left untreated.
- The IDF estimates that 224 million people will have diabetic retinopathy and 70 million will have sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy by 2040.
- Nearly 98% of patients with type 1 diabetes and 78% with type 2 diabetes are expected to develop minimal retinal damage after having diabetes for more than 15 years.
Some studies suggest that around 17 million worldwide have proliferative diabetic retinopathy and without treatment over half of the patients with high-risk proliferative diabetic retinopathy will go blind within 5 years. Though most patients with diabetes suffer from a varying extent of vision impairment, only about 5% of them develop severe vision loss.
How can diabetes affect your eyes?
Diabetic macular edema – The part of your retina that you need for reading, driving, and seeing faces is called the, Diabetes can lead to swelling in the macula, which is called diabetic macular edema. Over time, this disease can destroy the sharp vision in this part of the eye, leading to partial vision loss or blindness.
Do all diabetics eventually go blind?
Does diabetes increase the chance of vision loss? – For those living with diabetes, symptoms can be a daily challenge combined with the thought of losing your eyesight, it becomes easy to be concerned. Did you know that diabetes is the leading cause of vision loss in adults? This is a frightening aspect to the disease, as most of us take our eyesight for granted.
Can you suddenly go blind from diabetes?
Diabetes Can Lead to Leaky Retinal Blood Vessels, Sudden Blindness.
Can you reverse diabetic blindness?
Can Diabetic Retinopathy Be Reversed? – 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,
How long does it take for diabetes to damage eyes?
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. To minimise the risk of this happening, people with diabetes should:
ensure they control their blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterolattend diabetic eye screening appointments – annual screening is offered to all people with diabetes aged 12 and over to pick up and treat any problems early on
How does diabetic eye look like?
What are the symptoms of diabetic retinopathy? – The early stages of diabetic retinopathy usually don’t have any symptoms. Some people notice changes in their vision, like trouble reading or seeing faraway objects. These changes may come and go. In later stages of the disease, blood vessels in the retina start to bleed into the vitreous (gel-like fluid that fills your eye).
How can you tell if diabetes is affecting your eyes?
Diabetic eye disease prevention – The best way to prevent diabetes-related eye problems is to manage your blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Ways you can help prevent eye problems caused by diabetes include:
- Control your blood sugar. Your doctor can provide direction on how to keep your blood sugar normal and avoid fluctuations that can lead to diabetic eye diseases. “In addition to getting your eyes checked, it’s also very important to keep the blood sugars under control,” says Cai. “This is not only good for you overall, but also good for your eyes.”
- Lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Get recommendations from your doctor on ways you can combat high blood pressure and cholesterol, because these can worsen diabetic eye disease.
- Stop smoking. Smoking can cause further damage to your blood vessels, including the ones in your eyes, so it’s very important to stop smoking.
- Avoid harmful rays. Protect yourself from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays by wearing sunglasses. Exposure to these rays can speed up the progression of cataracts.
Can lowering blood sugar improve vision?
Diabetic retinopathy – The simplest way to explain diabetic retinopathy is that small blood vessels in your eyes begin to leak blood or yellow fluid into your eye. Early symptoms of diabetic retinopathy include having floaters, blurry vision, or distorted vision.
- If blurred vision or other symptoms don’t clear up with improved blood sugar control, oftentimes medicine and other procedures may restore vision.
- The biggest preventative to diabetic retinopathy is management of blood sugar to normal levels and getting regular eye exams to catch the condition as early as possible.
Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in diabetics. High blood sugar levels can also temporarily cause blurred vision. It can happen right after a high carbohydrate meal or it can be a constant issue. Regardless, the treatment for correcting temporary blurry vision is to get blood sugar levels back to normal.
Does insulin affect eyesight?
Fitness & Nutrition
There are many things that can cause eye strain and blurry vision, such as spending a lot of time in front of a screen. But blurry vision is also a common warning sign for diabetes. If not caught early or properly managed, diabetes can damage the small blood vessels in the retina — a layer of light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that sends visual signals to the brain.
This condition, called retinopathy, can result in blindness. Diabetes is a complex disease that occurs when your body does not produce insulin normally. Insulin is a hormone that allows the body to break down sugars that our cells use for energy. Increased blood sugar (or blood glucose) can cause the lenses of your eyes to swell with fluid, causing distorted vision or blurriness.
If not managed, unhealthy sugar levels can progress to diabetic retinopathy, Preventing diabetic retinopathy In order to prevent permanent damage to the retina, doctors recommend a yearly eye exam with dilation. Dilation involves using drops that open the pupil and allow doctors to examine the retina for damage.
- Keep blood glucose levels normal so the eye functions properly and the swelling decreases. You are four times less likely to develop retinopathy if you control your blood sugar.
- Keep blood pressure levels in check to prevent damage to the optic nerve. High blood pressure is the primary cause of glaucoma, a disease that leads to vision loss.
- Eat leafy greens and other brightly colored fruits and vegetables to help prevent cataracts, a clouding of the eye lens, which is common among diabetic patients.
- Wear sunglasses to keep direct sunlight from affecting the eyes.
- Eat fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, like tuna and salmon, two or more times a week.
Pay attention to warning signs As diabetes progresses, blood vessels in the retina may be permanently damaged. The longer you’ve had diabetes, the higher your chance of developing some level of retinopathy, particularly if you haven’t taken preventive steps. If you are diabetic, be aware that blurriness is just one symptom of retinopathy. Others include:
- Spots, floaters or halos
- Difficulty with night vision
- Seeing double
- Consistently red eyes
- Problems with peripheral vision
- Pressure in the eyes
While some patients with retinopathy have symptoms, many do not. Without regular eye exams, retinopathy can quickly become problematic. This makes treatment less effective, or even impossible. Treating diabetic eye problems If you do have retinopathy, continue to follow prevention measures to slow the progression of the disease.
- Injectable medicines
- Laser surgery to burn and seal blood vessels on the retina (to slow growth and leakage)
- Removal of scar tissue and cloudy fluid in the eye (vitrectomy)
Visit the UCLA Stein Eye Institute for more information on diabetic retinopathy or find a provider by calling 800-825-2631. Tags: blurry vision, cataract, diabetes, diabetes and eye disease, diabetic retinopathy, eye care, eye exam, Fitness & Nutrition, glaucoma, healthy eyes, healthy vision, retina, retinal damage, UCLA Stein Eye Institute, vision loss, Wellness Related Posts 
Be kind to yourself and savor your Christmas dinner 
My boyfriend has been lifting weights at his gym. He’s working on getting stronger, and one of the trainers there suggested he start taking creatine as a supplement. I’ve never heard of that before. What is creatine, and what is it made out of? How does it affect your body? 
I’m a 33-year-old woman in good health. The problem is that I got into some bad habits during the pandemic and gained weight. I’m back on track with diet, and now I am adding exercise. I remember reading that the time of day that women exercise makes a difference. Is that true?
What are the 4 stages of diabetic retinopathy?
Diabetes is a widely recognized disease; its most common subsequent health risks are well-known to the public. However, diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease unique to diabetics, is not as well-recognized as other diabetic complications. This leads to many cases of preventable blindness. Source: Centers for Disease Control (CDC.gov) Nearly all patients with diabetes will eventually develop some form of diabetic retinopathy within 15-20 years. The disease has four main stages and if it’s detected in the earlier stages, it is more easily treatable.
- According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, diabetic retinopathy is an eye disease that occurs when high blood sugar levels cause damage to blood vessels in the retina.
- The affected blood vessels can sometimes swell and leak, or they can close altogether, which causes a blockage and prevents blood from passing through.
Early detection is vital to a patient’s eye health and necessary to prevent the most severe stages of diabetic retinopathy. The ability to efficiently and effectively detect the disease makes an immense difference since most of the vision loss can be prevented with early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
- Below is a look at the stages of diabetic retinopathy, how each stage manifests itself, and what medical solutions exist to prevent this from occurring.
- Anyone with diabetes, whether it’s type 1, type 2, or gestational, can develop diabetic retinopathy.
- The better a patient controls their blood sugar, the less risk there is.
But the longer a patient has diabetes, the more likely it is to occur. The early diabetic retinopathy stages are the best time to detect and treat the disease, which means that both diabetic patients and healthcare providers alike should take advantage of retinal imaging that catches the disease in its earliest stages.
Researchers have found that nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) was present in 25% of patients 5 years after they were diagnosed with diabetes, 60% at 10 years, and 80% at 15 years. These studies also found that the incidence of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) varied from 2% in those who had diabetes for less than 5 years to 15.5% in those who had diabetes for 15 or more years.
While diabetic retinopathy is a common risk all diabetic patients face, technological advancements in the medical field have now made retinal screenings more accessible, which in turn will help to shorten diagnoses timelines and help provide better quality care.
What does diabetic vision loss look like?
Symptoms – You might not have symptoms in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy. As the condition progresses, you might develop:
Spots or dark strings floating in your vision (floaters) Blurred vision Fluctuating vision Dark or empty areas in your vision Vision loss
Does blurry vision from diabetes go away?
Does blurry vision from diabetes go away? – Experiencing blurry vision as a result of diabetes can feel unsettling. Naturally, one of the first things you might ask yourself is how long it’s going to last. When the visual disturbance is caused by hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia alone, your blurry vision should go away with time and regulation of your blood sugar.
Can metformin cause blindness?
Conclusion – MALA is a common metformin-related adverse reaction. However, blindness associated with MALA has not been reported frequently. If blindness is accompanied by severe metabolic acidosis (pH 13),
Can glasses help diabetic retinopathy?
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.
At what level does blood sugar affect vision?
What level of blood sugar causes blurry vision? – Low blood sugar can affect vision if it falls below 70 mg/dL, If high blood sugar is the cause, vision should become clear again when glucose levels return to 70–130 mg/dL or below 180 mg/dL 1–2 hours after eating.
Can diabetic eyes get better?
Blurry Vision – Patients with diabetes should ideally avoid using glasses or change their glasses as soon as they experience blurring of visions. This could be a sign of a minor problem linked to an increase in the blood sugar levels that causes the lens to swell and change their ability to see clearly.
How often do people with diabetes go blind?
Diabetic retinopathy is a common and potentially disabling long-term complication of diabetes. This condition arises when elevated levels of blood sugar damage the tiny blood vessels that supply oxygen and nutrients to the retina, the part of the eye that detects light.
- Typically, both eyes are affected.
- Retinopathy can also lead to glaucoma, increased pressure within the eye that can further threaten vision.
- Untreated, retinopathy can lead to progressive and irreversible vision loss,
- This condition is the leading cause of blindness in people between the ages of 20 and 60.
But if retinopathy is diagnosed early, blindness can be prevented. Although many people with diabetes develop impaired vision, fewer than 5% suffer severe vision loss. For a person who has diabetes, the risk of developing retinopathy is directly related to the length of time that they has had diabetes.