What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a medical condition resulting when the pancreas slows down or stops secreting insulin. This prevents the body from using and storing sugar properly. High blood-sugar levels can eventually damage blood vessels (capillaries) throughout the body that supply the eyes, kidneys, heart, nerves and skin.
Clinically there are two types of diabetes:
Type I diabetes, also known as juvenile or insulin-dependent diabetes, occurs when the pancreas no longer manufactures insulin. Treatment of this condition usually requires daily administration of insulin.
Type II diabetes, also known as adult-onset or non insulin-dependent diabetes, occurs when insulin does not function properly in the body. Treatment of this condition usually requires oral medication taken daily.
How does Diabetes affect the eyes and my vision?
This condition can weaken the small blood vessels of the retina , resulting in leakage of fluid or blood (background retinopathy) or in production of abnormal blood vessels (proliferative retinopathy). These blood vessels can break and produce rapid visual loss because the vitreous (normally transparent) fills with blood, blocking the transmission of light to the retina.
How will I know if I have eye damage from Diabetes?
Retinopathy causes no eye pain. Typically a diabetic patient has few warning signs until late in the disease process. There is often no vision loss until the retinopathy is advanced. Since these early signs of eye damage are “silent” a dilated eye examination by your eye doctor is the ONLY way to detect these ocular complications.