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Avoiding Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetes causes such havoc in an individuals system that sometimes it is difficult to completely grasp and understand all the changes that are occurring. Diabetic retinopathy is a serious condition when the small blood vessels, or capillaries in the retina become weak. The retina is that part of the eye structure that is responsible for an individual’s vision. Unfortunately the blood vessel structure becomes very elastic and bulges out in response to the pressure building up in the tissues and the retina. Some refer to this as an aneurysm. There are two distinct types of diabetic retinopathy and they are as follows:

1. Non-proliferative retinopathy
2. Proliferative retinopathy

Non-proliferative retinopathy is a blood vessel wall loosing strength and fills the eye with blood. The delicate eye tissues are no longer oxygenating and vision becomes blurred. Proliferative retinopathy grows addition vessels or capillaries which are useless and the end result winds up being the same with blurred vision. However, if this continues without any treatment for diabetes, this will lead to blindness. The pressure within the eye will cause much pain to the individual until the difficulty is under control for easy management.

Management of the eyes is not always an easy task and to complicate the issue with complications only hastens the decline even further. The pressure building within the eye accumulates and the eyeball will begin to show noticeable swelling. This is leading into glaucoma which causes much pain to the individual, especially in strong sunlight. The treatment of diabetes will help to alleviate this pending condition, but the immediate attention must focus on the eye. The optic nerve which is responsible for the delivery of pictures sent to the brain to decipher will end up cut through the pressure.

Optic nerves are neither replaceable or can the damage be reversed leading the individual to living a life of blindness. High blood sugar levels are another contributing factor with this malady. The whole idea is to meet with the family medical physician and any other recommended specialist regularly to avoid incidents such as this from happening. Neglecting the situation will lead to permanent blindness and no one ever chooses to be blind for any reason.

Symptoms for all diabetics, their medical physician, and specialist to pay special attention to are the following:

• Blurred vision
• Blind spots appearing and fading away
• Floating spots floating around independently
• Little to no night vision
• Throbbing or intense, sharp pain in the eyes

Individuals who experience these symptoms must notify their family medical physician, their ophthalmologist, or their optometrist to set up an appointment as quickly as possible to have the individuals eyes checked. There are many diabetic articles that explain in more detail exactly what the cause and effect of this is to the individual. Diabetic treatment and medication from the ophthalmologist will help the individual for a time, but more permanent treatment is necessary.

Depending upon the severity of the pain and the swelling of the eye the ophthalmologist will prescribe diabetic medication that is compatible with the individual’s internal system. The medication will come in the form of various eye drops or if the eye pressure is excessive the ophthalmologist will write a prescription for pills such as Diamox. This is a situation when all of the regularly visited medical physicians need to talk with each other in order to reduce the risk of complications due to adverse medication for the individual.

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