DIABATIC RETINOPATHY
Diabetic retinopathy could be a diabetes complication that affects our healthy eyes. It’s caused by harm to the blood vessels of the sensitive tissue at the rear of the attention (retina).
At first, diabetic retinopathy could cause no symptoms or solely delicate vision issues. Eventually, it will cause sightlessness.
The condition will develop in anyone who has kind one or type a pair of diabetes. The longer you’ve got diabetes and therefore the less controlled your blood glucose is, the additional possible you’re to develop this eye complication.
TYPES OF DIABATIC RETINOPATHY
There are two types of diabetic retinopathy
Early diabetic retinopathy
during this a lot of common type — referred to as nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) — new blood vessels are not growing .
When you have NPDR, the walls of the blood vessels in your membrane weaken. small bulges (microaneurysms) protrude from the vessel walls of the smaller vessels, typically leaky fluid and blood into the membrane. Larger retinal vessels will begin to dilate and become irregular in diameter, as well. NPDR will progress from gentle to severe, as a lot of blood vessels become blocked.
Nerve fibers within the membrane might begin to swell. typically the central a part of the membrane (macula) begins to swell (macular edema), a condition that needs treatment.
Advanced diabetic retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy will attain this a lot of severe kind, called proliferative diabetic retinopathy. during this kind, broken blood vessels shut off, inflicting the expansion of recent, abnormal blood vessels within the membrane, and may leak into the clear, jelly-like substance that fills the middle of your eye (vitreous).
Eventually, connective tissue stirred by the expansion of recent blood vessels might cause the membrane to detach from the rear of your eye. If the new blood vessels interfere with the traditional flow of fluid out of the attention, pressure might build up within the eyeball. this could injury the nerve that carries pictures from your eye to your brain (optic nerve), leading to eye disease.
Diagnosis
Diabetic retinopathy is best diagnosed with a comprehensive dilated eye exam. For this exam, drops placed in your eyes widen (dilate) your pupils to allow your doctor to better view inside your eyes. The drops may cause your close vision to blur until they wear off, several hours later.
During the exam, your eye doctor will look for:
- Abnormal blood vessels
- Swelling, blood or fatty deposits in the retina
- Growth of new blood vessels and scar tissue
- Bleeding in the clear, jelly-like substance that fills the center of the eye (vitreous)
- Retinal detachment
- Abnormalities in your optic nerve
In addition, your eye doctor may:
- Test your vision
- Measure your eye pressure to test for glaucoma
- Look for evidence of cataracts
SYMPTOMS OF DIABATIC RETINOPATHY
In the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, you may have no symptoms. After a period some symptoms may arise
- A loss of central vision when you read or drive
- Inability to see colors
- Blurry vision
- Holes or black spots in vision
- Fluctuating vision
- Impaired color vision
RISK FACTOR OF DIABETIC RETINOPATHY
- You’ve high risk of diabetic retinopathy if you’ve High Cholestrol
- You’ve high risk of diabetic retinopathy if you’vePregnancy
- You’ve high risk of diabetic retinopathy if you’ve poor control of blood sugar
- You’ve high risk of diabetic retinopathy if you’ve High blood preasure
- If you’re type 1 or type2 diabatic You’ve high risk of diabetic retinopathy
TREATMENT
- Make healthy eating and physical activity part of your daily routine.
- Try to get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, such as walking, each week.
- You can directly treat retinopathy with a laser or a surgical procedure called vitrectomy , to prevent further vascular changes and preserve vision.
- Make sure you see an eye doctor at least once a year for a complete eye exam.
- If you have diabetes and are pregnant, you should also have a thorough eye exam.
- Your doctor may suggest injecting medication into the vitreous in the eye. These medications, called vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors, may help stop growth of new blood vessels by blocking the effects of growth signals the body sends to generate new blood vessels.
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