Eye Problems due to Diabetes

Diabetic patients show a number of complications that might affect other parts of the body. For instance, diabetic eye problems are conditions that affect your vision and lead to other serious impairments. Diabetic diseases related to the eyes include diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, cataract and more.

Therefore, it is crucial to know in detail about the effect of diabetes on the eyes and its prevention methods. In the following section, you will find everything you need to know about such problems.

Without any delay, read on!

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How Does Diabetes Affect Your Eyes?

Diabetes is a condition where the blood glucose level shoots up. In such a scenario, it can affect your eyes depending on the period. During short-term cases, you might not have any serious ailment. However, you can have blurry vision when changing diabetes care medicines. This can cause temporary discomfort but does not stay longer than days or weeks.

For patients who have had diabetes for a long time, the situation becomes much more dire. Prolonged high blood sugar can damage their blood vessels starting from the initial prediabetic stage. Damaged blood vessels can cause serious problems concerning your eyesight. Considering all the factors, we have enlisted few diabetes eye diseases in the following section:

Blurry Vision

Some diabetic patients find it difficult to view finer details resulting in blurred vision. This generally happens when fluids from blood vessels in your eyes leak into the lens. As a result of this, the lens swells up and changes its shape.

Another instance of blurry vision can be during the initial phase of insulin treatment. This occurs due to shifting fluids in your eyes. However, this gets resolved after a few days when the patient’s blood sugar level becomes stable.

Here are some of the symptoms of blurry vision:

Clouded vision
Fading colours
Double sight
Light sensitivity
Glare around lights
Vision does not improve even after changing glasses

Cataract

Prolonged blurred vision in diabetic patients means that they have contracted cataracts. The eye lenses offer clear and sharp vision, but they tend to become clouded with age. However, in diabetic patients, this condition occurs early as glucose deposits in the lenses, causing blurry vision.

Cataract patients have to undergo surgery where doctors remove the clouded lens with an artificial one. Some symptoms of cataract include:

Unable to focus on an image due to cloudy vision
Colours in images start to fade during this condition

Glaucoma

In this ailment, the optic nerve becomes heavily damaged. The optic nerve is a bundle of nerves connecting the eye to the brain. Diabetic patients are prone to this condition, which can cause loss of vision if not treated early.

There are three types of glaucoma that patients should be aware of - open-angle, angle-closure and congenital glaucoma. Open-angle glaucoma is highly prevalent in the United States. Further, it is important to note that there is no cure for glaucoma. However, early treatment and medical attention can help prevent blindness.

Here are some symptoms to monitor for an early diagnosis:

Peripheral vision loss
Glare or halos around eyes
Eye reddening
Ocular pain or pain in the eyes
Vomiting or nausea

Diabetic Retinopathy

Damage caused to the retina of an eye results in a condition diabetic retinopathy. The retina is the inner lining of the anterior portion of an eye that absorbs light and turns them into signals. These signals reach the brain and enable vision. However, high blood glucose can cause damages to the blood vessels that affect the retina and develop into this condition.

During the early stages of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, weakening, bulging or leaking blood vessels into the retina occur. However, if the existing blood vessels get clogged, new ones arise on the retina resulting in serious vision problems. This stage, also known as proliferative diabetic retinopathy, is a serious condition that develops later.

Detection of early symptoms in this medical condition is not possible as they are not long-lasting. However, with time, patients can observe the following signs:

Dark floating spots (bleeding of blood vessels in the retina into the vitreous)
Trouble in viewing faraway objects

Sometimes, this condition may worsen and lead to other serious ailments like neovascular glaucoma, retinal detachment and diabetic macular oedema.

Diabetic Macular Oedema

The macula is the part of your retina that aids in reading, driving and viewing faces. Diabetic conditions can result in macular swelling, which causes diabetic macular oedema. As a result, a patient’s sharp central vision is lost. Such instances can lead to partial or complete blindness.

Moreover, as this condition stems from diabetic retinopathy, symptoms are the same. Some other symptoms can be colour changes and wavy vision. Therefore, patients with signs of diabetic retinopathy should get diagnosed at the earliest so that treatment can begin.

Neovascular Glaucoma

This is a type of glaucoma that originates from diabetic retinopathy. In this condition, there is an abnormal growth of blood vessels from the retina that blocks fluid from draining out of your eyes.

Retinal Detachment

Due to excessive bleeding from blood vessels, scars can occur at the back of your eyes. Owing to these scars, the retina gets pulled away from the back of your eyes, resulting in tractional retinal detachment.

However, there are certain risk factors associated with these diseases.

Keep reading to know more!

Risks of Contracting Diabetic Eye Problems

As already mentioned, patients with serious diabetic conditions can contract eye problems that require immediate medical attention. However, there are some categories that are vulnerable to such ailments. Such categories of individuals are as follows:

Women developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy or diabetic women becoming pregnant should have dilated eye examinations.
Patients with a prolonged diabetic condition should examine their eyes.
People with type 2 diabetes have a higher risk of developing eye problems than type 1.
Someone unable to control blood glucose levels must ensure to get routine eye check-ups.
Comorbid patients with high blood pressure and cholesterol can also develop serious diabetes resulting in eye problems.
Using excessive tobacco can cause serious ailments.
Native American people are more prone to contract eye diseases stemming from diabetes.

Further, it is important to note that these serious conditions should not be ignored at any cost. For that, one should know of the instances when they should consult a doctor.

When to Seek Medical Attention?

Health conditions can deteriorate at any point, especially for diabetic patients. Therefore, they should look out for the following symptoms and seek help from a doctor if required:

If you are a diabetic patient for a long time, you are at an increased risk of contracting eye diseases. Therefore, it is recommended to opt for routine eye examinations.
Clouded or blurred vision might pass with eye drops. However, often they can occur due to some underlying conditions like diabetic eye problems.
Sudden changes to vision like flashes of light or multiple black spots are often signs of serious eye ailments requiring doctor’s supervision.
Sometimes, a patient might complain of vision problems where he feels like a curtain has been drawn over his eyes. In such a case, one should call a doctor right away as it can be due to a detached retina.

Therefore, seeing a doctor early for these symptoms can help a diabetic patient control the diseases and avoid mishaps.

In addition to this, it is vital to know about the prevention methods of these diseases. In the following section, you will find details regarding that.

Prevention Methods of Diabetic Eye Diseases

To avoid future complications and hefty costs of laser treatment or vitrectomy, you should take some preventive measures as follows:

Controlling blood pressure and cholesterol can help to prevent a diabetic eye problem from worsening.
Refrain from using tobacco products.
Take dilated eye examinations at least once a year to have a comprehensive report on your eye condition.
Manage your blood sugar level as this is the root cause of getting eye problems. To check your blood glucose level, you can opt for an A1c test. This is a special type of test that shows your blood sugar level over 3 months.

However, you need to go for surgery or treatment in certain extreme cases, depending on your eye condition.

Treatment of Diabetic Eye Problems

At times, simple medication will fail to restore your eye condition if you are unable to prevent diseases. In such scenarios, doctors will follow their protocol and offer three solutions:

Injections: Certain corticosteroids can reverse conditions like diabetic retinopathy. Doctors also prescribe anti-VEGF drugs to slow down the effects of diseases.
Laser treatment: Doctors often control leaking of blood vessels and swelling of the retina by implementing laser treatments.
Eye surgery: If your eye condition is beyond medication and worsens even more due to excessive scars and bleeding in the retina, doctors recommend getting a vitrectomy.

Now that you have known everything about diabetic eye problems, you can regularly check your blood sugar level to live a healthy life.

Frequently Asked Questions

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What to do if I am already suffering from partial vision loss due to diabetic eye problems?

You should seek help from special eye care professionals who offer special devices and train you by using those so that you make the most of your remaining vision.

How to treat the commonest form of glaucoma?

Open-angle glaucoma is generally treatable with medications. It will lower your eye pressure, improve the drainage of fluids, and reduce the build-up of aqueous humour in your eyes. However, in extreme cases, you need to opt for surgery.

Can blurred vision occur during hyperglycaemia?

Yes, blurred vision is a sign of hyperglycaemia.