With age, the health risks and vision issues increase in older people. Rapid advancement in technology has led to a variety of treatments for seniors to combat vision problems.
Eyelid surgery in Dubai is a common procedure for achieving a youthful look. However, cosmetic surgeries aren’t always the go-to option. There are other vision issues, particularly related to diabetes, that need to be treated. Diabetic eye issues often need surgical treatment as they can cause damage to the eyes that can lead to poor vision and even escalate to blindness.
These are a group of eye problems that affect diabetic people and include Diabetic Retinopathy (DR), Diabetic Macular Edema (DME), Cataracts, and Glaucoma. To prevent oneself from getting diabetic eye diseases and control them, here is what you can do:
- Manage your cholesterol, blood glucose, and blood pressure.
- If you are smoker, try to quit
- Annually have a dilated eye exam because your eyes might seem fine, but your best bet to know for sure is via a full dilated eye exam.
How Diabetes Might Impact Your Eyes
Tiny blood eyes present within our eye can get severely damaged when the blood sugar level goes way above normal. The higher your blood sugar level, the greater your chances of eye damage.
Diabetes impacts the retina in numerous ways called microvascular abnormalities. The tiny vessels within the retina expand unnaturally and may rupture due to diabetes, causing blood leakage. This is called microaneurysms.
For an effective understanding of how high blood sugar levels impact eyesight and the connection between different eye issues and diabetes, read on below:
Diabetes & Cataracts
Speaking of cataracts, you should know that getting treatment from an ultra LASIK eye center in Dubai is not ideal for cataracts as it cannot repair the vision loss. Anyone can get cataracts, but if you are a diabetic, your chances jump by 60 times.
A cataract occurs when the clear lens inside the eye gets fogged or clouded, hindering your vision and focus. Diabetes makes people susceptible to getting it at an earlier age.
Symptoms & Treatment
Cataracts lead to blurred/glared vision. It mostly involves surgical removal of the clouded lens and replacing it with an artificial one.
Glaucoma & Diabetes
Being a diabetic increases your chances of getting glaucoma by about 40%. The longer a person has the disease, the higher the chances of getting affected. Age is also a contributing factor. Glaucoma occurs when the eye is unable to drain the fluid inside that builds up pressure. This causes the optic nerves and blood vessels to get pinched, which leads to gradual vision loss.
Symptoms & Treatment
The disease shows no obvious signs until it has progressed. Regular eye exams can help with early detection. Some of its signs are blurred vision, eye and headaches, watering eyes, halos around light, and loss of vision/visual field.
Its treatment aims to lower the eye pressure by facilitating the drainage of liquid and reduction in its production via medication, eye drops, laser therapy, and surgery. If you are a UAE resident, make sure that you consult the best eye specialist in Dubai after a thorough research regarding treatment.
Diabetic Retinopathy & Diabetes
The retina is responsible for detecting the light, construing into electrical impulses, and then passing them on to the brain via the optic nerve. High blood sugar in diabetes damages the tiny blood vessels within the retina that leads to blood and fluid leakage – Diabetic Retinopathy or DR. It leads to vision distortion, loss of vision, and blindness.
Diabetic Retinopathy has four stages:
- Mild Nonproliferative Retinopathy is the earliest stage where microaneurysms appear in retina’s tiny blood vessels with possible leakage of fluid.
- Moderate Nonproliferative Retinopathy is where the retina’s blood vessels get swollen and distorted.
- In Severe Non-Proliferative retinopathy, most blood vessels are blocked, cutting down the blood supply to a significant area inside the retina.
- Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (PDR) is the most advanced stage of DRS, where there is a considerable proliferation of new blood vessels within the retina. They are highly prone to bleeding and fluid leakage accompanied by scar tissue that can cause retinal detachment, causing the retina to pull away from its actual position.
Symptoms & Treatment
DR does not show any signs until it has reached an advanced stage. When it does, it causes blurred vision, color vision impairment, dark spots, fluctuating vision, and vision loss. It is treated through photocoagulation, scatter photocoagulation/panretinal photocoagulation, and vitrectomy.
Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) & Diabetes
It is a complication of diabetic retinopathy where the fluid leakage of retina’s damaged blood vessels leads to swelling in the central-most region of the retina – the macula. DME is the main cause of vision loss in DR patients. There are two forms of DME:
- Focal DME is the abnormalities in the ocular blood vessels.
- Diffuse DME is the swelling/widening through retinal capillaries.
Symptoms & Treatment
The symptoms include blurry/double vision, floaters, and if left untreated for long, blindness. Painless Intravitreal Injections and laser procedures are the common treatment options for focal and diffuse DME. They help with stopping leakage in the macula.
If anyone among your friends and family is diabetic and is suffering from eye problems, call up Eye Consultants to get an appointment at your earliest.
