Diabetic Retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy is the cause of loss of vision or blindness in nine out of ten diabetic patients within 20 years.
Diabetic Retinopathy
If you have diabetes mellitus for a long time, your risk of developing diabetic retinopathy is high. In diabetes mellitus, small vessels can become damaged through out the body. And when this happens in the small vessels leading to the retina (the light-sensitive membrane at the back of the eye), diabetic retinopathy develops. In diabetic retinopathy, the small vessels leading to the retina can become damaged. Retinal damage may include leakage of blood from the damaged vessels, loss of blood flow to some areas, and the abnormal development of new blood vessels.
Diabetic retinopathy usually affects both eyes. At first, the small blood vessels in the eyes begin to leak. Then, fragile new blood vessels proliferate out into the jelly-like vitreous humour. These fragile new vessels can break and bleed into various part of the eye, causing blurred vision and scarring of the retina.
The scarring may cause the detachment of the retina, resulting in blindness. When diabetic retinopathy is left untreated, this may lead to permanent loss of the eye-sight.
Unfortunately, symptoms of diabetic retinopathy may not be noticeable until the damage to the retina is already severe. As the disease progresses, the diabetic patients may experience loss of vision in one eye caused by the rupture of any of the fragile new vessels in the retina or the detachment of the retina.
It is important to see an ophthalmologist at least once a year if you have diabetes mellitus. Laser surgery can be used to treat diabetic retinopathy by destroying the abnormal parts of the retina and prevent the fragile new blood vessels from forming. However, the laser surgery cannot reverse the visual loss that has become permanent. It is just to prevent further loss of sight.
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