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Diabetic retinopathy is an eye disease affecting the blood vessels in the retina (the back layer of the eye) of people with diabetes. The small blood vessels in the retina become weak and break down or become blocked. Diabetic retinopathy is a major cause of vision loss and blindness. The systemic disease diabetes can cause many health problems, one of which is diabetic retinopathy. High blood sugar in diabetics causes the blood vessels in the retina to swell and leak blood, and damage the retina, the light-sensitive part of the eye. This disease can cause blindness if not treated.
Diabetics who are insulin-dependent as well as those who are not may develop diabetic retinopathy. Fluctuating blood sugar levels leads to an increased risk of this disease, as well as long-term diabetes. Generally, diabetics don't develop diabetic retinopathy until they've had diabetes for at least 10 years. How does diabetic retinopathy damage the retina? Diabetic retinopathy occurs when diabetes damages the tiny blood vessels in the retina. At this point, most people do not notice any changes in their vision. Some people develop a condition called macular edema. It occurs when the damaged blood vessels leak fluid and lipids onto the macula, the part of the retina that lets us see detail. The fluid makes the macula swell, blurring vision. As the disease progresses, it enters its advanced, or proliferative, stage. Fragile, new blood vessels grow along the retina and in the clear, gel-like vitreous that fills the inside of the eye. Without timely treatment, these new blood vessels can bleed, cloud vision, and destroy the retina.
All people with diabetes are at risk, those with Type I diabetes (juvenile onset) and those with Type II diabetes (adult onset). During pregnancy, diabetic retinopathy may also be a problem for women with diabetes. It is recommended that all pregnant women with diabetes have dilated eye examinations each trimester to protect their vision. Diabetic retinopathy often has no early warning signs. At some point, though, you may have macular edema. It blurs vision, making it hard to do things like read and drive. In some cases, your vision will get better or worse during the day.
As new blood vessels form at the back of the eye, they can bleed (hemorrhage) and blur vision. The first time this happens it may not be very severe. In most cases, it will leave just a few specks of blood, or spots, floating in your vision. They often go away after a few hours. These spots are often followed within a few days or weeks by a much greater leakage of blood. The blood will blur your vision. In extreme cases, a person will only be able to tell light from dark in that eye. It may take the blood anywhere from a few days to months or even years to clear from the inside of your eye. In some cases, the blood will not clear. You should be aware that large hemorrhages tend to happen more than once, often during sleep.
The best treatment for diabetic retinopathy is prevention. Keeping your blood sugar at an even level will help. Diabetics should see their eyecare practitioner on a yearly basis beginning five years after diagnosis. Frequent follow-up may catch any retinal changes early so treatment will help prevent vision loss. Diabetic retinopathy is diagnosed as either nonproliferative (background) or proliferative. In the nonproliferative form, small retinal blood vessels break and leak, forming a small pouch filled with leaked blood. In this early stage of diabetic retinopathy, you may notice distorted or blurred vision from the blood that is obscuring the light-sensitive retina. Your eyecare practitioner may diagnose nonproliferative retinopathy with fluorescein angiography. In this test, dye is injected into the body, and it gradually appears within the retina due to blood flow. Your eyecare practitioner will photograph the retina with the illuminated dye. Evaluating these pictures tells your doctor how far the disease has progressed. If you are diagnosed with proliferative retinopathy, new blood vessels grow abnormally within the retina. This new growth can lead to scarring or retinal detachment, a separation of the retina from its supporting tissue, which can lead to vision loss. The new blood vessels may also grow or bleed into the vitreous humor, the transparent gel filling the eyeball in front of the retina. Proliferative retinopathy is much more serious than the nonproliferative form and can lead to total blindness. Diabetic retinopathy can be treated with laser photocoagulation, a method of sealing off leaking blood vessels and destroying new growth with a laser beam. Laser photocoagulation doesn't cause pain, because the retina does not contain nerve endings. Another procedure called a vitrectomy removes blood that has leaked into the vitreous humor. Lost vitreous humor is gradually replaced by the body, and vision improves. For more information of Diabetic Retinopathy and its treatment:
Source(s): All above information & images are based on an article written by Gretchyn Bailey allaboutvision.com and on an article at nei.nih.gov. All rights reserved by respective owners. For our full credit and copyright information please view our Credit List.
Disclaimer: Any information displayed here is just for educational purposes, and may not be taken as an expert advice and should not be applied in life without consulting your eye doctor/specialist. We here by take no responsiblity of the accuracy of the above content as they have been taken from various sources. |
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It has been proved that perople who use their computer's for long intervals, should close their eyes while thinking and other processes which don't need the eyes to be open, this actually reduces the eye strain. [submit fact]
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