Having High Blood Sugar Over Time, Can Cause ‘BLINDNESS’

People with diabetes need to pay extra attention to their health including proper diet and regular exercise to keep their blood sugar levels under control. If they have high blood sugar levels over a long period of time, it can lead to complicated medical conditions which affect several different parts of the body. One of the most common problem is “Diabetic Retinopathy”.

“Diabetic retinopathy” is a serious sight-threatening complication of diabetes. It’s caused by damage to the blood vessels inside retina which usually develop silently and gradually over time, from mild vision problems to total blindness.

Diabetic Eye Diseases

1. Diabetic Retinopathy: caused by uncontrolled diabetes, this is the most common eye complication from diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy can leads to permanant visual loss and glucoma.
2. Cataract: clouding of the eye’s lens. Adults with diabetes are 2 times more likely than those without diabetes to develop cataract.

Diabetes & Eye Conditions

• The early stages may occur without symptoms.
• The disease progresses unnoticed until it affects vision.
• Abnormal blood vessels can begin to grow and may leak fluid into the retina.
• All forms of diabetic eye disease have the potential to cause severe vision loss and blindness.

Treatment & Prevention

In the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, patients should keep blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol levels under control by making healthy lifestyle choices. And it’s important to get eye examination at least once or twice a year from an ophthalmologist so diabetic retinopathy can be detected early. For advanced stages, it may require laser surgery to seal leaking blood vessels or to discourage new leaky blood vessels from forming.