Last Updated on May 4, 2024
One common side effect of diabetes is vision problems. Diabetes can lead to diminishing eyesight or even blindness. New research could help understand the vision complications and give more insight to the connection between diabetes and blindness. It is very important to do everything you can to keep your diabetes under control, not only for this reason but for many more, including being able to qualify for diabetes life insurance.
The study was originally published in the journal Diabetes. Rithwick Rajagopal, An ophthalmologist at Washington University in St. Louis has lead research that could help prevent diabetics from experiencing vision problems because of their disease. The main finding from the study was that the earlier you catch diabetic retinopathy, the better. In fact, if it’s caught earlier enough, it can be controlled.
How does Rajagopal suggest that the retinopathy is controlled? Using drugs that are already on the market. The drugs are used to reduce damage to blood vessels. The only problem is that these drugs are expensive and have severe side effects. Rejagopal also suggests that the drug doesn’t fix the neurodegeneration problems, only slows the symptoms.
For those that might not know what diabetic retinopathy is, we will catch you up. Retinopathy is a condition that causes damage to the retina, the sensitive lining at the back of your eyeball. The damaged is caused by the damage of blood vessels because of the unstable blood sugar levels. Once there is damage to the blood vessels they leak blood and other fluids and can cause swelling in tissue surrounding the retina. The longer a person has been diagnosed with diabetes, the more likely they are to develop the condition.
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Symptoms of diabetic retinopathy include seeing spots, blurry vision, problems seeing at night, or having a “dark” spot in the middle of your vision. Normally, you will experience these symptoms when your glucose levels are abnormal, and your vision can return to normal once your blood sugar has reached a healthy level.
Currently, there are treatments that can help people with diabetic retinopathy, but they aren’t perfect. Many people diagnosed with retinopathy still have severe complications even when they are being treated, but with the new study, this could all change. While it might seem obvious that the earlier you find a disease, the easier it is to treat, but the findings from this study go deeper than that.
The researchers from the study have found that other treatments work to treat the nerve damage, but the evidence from the new study shows that damage to the nerve tissue may be happening much earlier than any damage to the blood vessels. Understanding the phases of the disease will go a long way in preventing any harmful complications in later stages of the disease.
There are several ways that you can detect if you may have diabetic retinopathy. The first is a simple visual acuity test, which is a standard eye chart test that determines your ability to see at different distances. The other ways are to use pupil dilation, tonometry, and optical coherence tomography. The pupil dilation allows a doctor to look at blood vessels, leaky blood vessels, or see any swelling.
What Puts You At Risk For Retinopathy?
Aside from having diabetes, there are several other factors that can increase your risk of developing the disease. The first risk factor you have no control over, your race. While diabetic retinopathy can happen to anyone, African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinos all have a higher chance of suffering from diabetic retinopathy. While there is nothing you can do about your ethnicity, you should be aware that you are at a higher risk.
Another factor you have more control over, your blood pressure. Several studies have shown a connection between high blood pressure and diabetic retinopathy. High blood pressure around the eyes can cause damage to the blood vessels and increase your risk of having complications.
The other factor is being pregnant. During pregnancy, women are more likely to have diabetic retinopathy. But some studies have shown that after pregnancy, the effects can be reversed with treatments.
