Managing Diabetic Retinopathy: Expert Advice for Patients and Caregivers
What is diabetic retinopathy?
We know that an excessive amount of sugar causes diabetes. If you have uncontrolled high blood sugar levels, gradually, you can develop a condition known as diabetic retinopathy.
- Diabetic retinopathy is a significant condition that culminates in damage to the retinal blood vessel.
- Such people have excessive amounts of sugar in their blood.
- In Diabetic retinopathy, you may face weaker blood vessels in your retina.
- Even if you start with only mild vision problems, you can eventually lose sight.
- The blood vessels in the retina can enlarge and leak fluid in some people.
- On the retinal surface, aberrant new blood vessels form in others.
- Vision loss or blindness could arise from these alterations.
- Untreated diabetic retinopathy is one of the most accepted causes of blindness around the globe.
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| Checking for Diabetic Retinopathy |
What are the types of diabetic retinopathy?
Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR)
- It is non-proliferative because your eye does not make new blood vessels during the primary stages of diabetic retinopathy.
- During the initial stages of retinopathy, damaged blood vessels often ooze blood and ocular fluid into the eye.
- In a few cases, the midpoint of the retina, or macula, begins to surge.
- Experts describe it as macular oedema.
- We know of three stages of NPDR, and these are mild, moderate, and severe.
- It may progress to the fourth stage of diabetic retinopathy.
Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR)
Many ophthalmic surgeons treat proliferative diabetic retinopathy as advanced retinopathy. In such a stage of retinopathy, new blood vessels begin to develop within the retina. These new blood vessels are usually atypical and grow in the midpoint of the eye.
What are the symptoms of diabetic retinopathy?
It is unexpected to have symptoms during the early stages of this condition. The signs of diabetic retinopathy often do not appear until crucial damage occurs inside the eye. You can restrict hidden damage by keeping your blood sugar levels well in control and getting regular eye checkups to monitor your eye health.
Symptoms in both eyes can include:
- Watching floaters or dark spots
- Difficulty seeing at night
- Blurred vision
- A loss of vision
- Difficulty in distinguishing colours
What causes diabetic retinopathy?
High sugar in the blood over pretty long periods causes diabetic retinopathy.
- This overkill sugar amends the blood vessels that supply the retina with blood.
- High BP is also a risk factor for retinopathy.
- We know that the retina is a minor layer of tissue in the back of the eye.
- Diabetic retinopathy contributes to changing images that our eyes observe into nerve signals that the brain can understand.
- If our blood vessels of the retina get damaged, then blocked blood vessels cut off some of the retina's blood supply.
- This blood loss flow can cause other, weaker blood vessels to develop.
- Even new blood vessels can ooze and form scar tissue that ends with vision loss.
How is diabetic retinopathy diagnosed?
Your ophthalmic surgeon can diagnose diabetic retinopathy using an inflate or expanding eye exam technique. This procedure entails administering eye drops that cause the pupils to dilate, enabling your doctor to examine the interior of your eye thoroughly.
Your doctor will check for
- Aberrant blood vessels
- Excess swelling
- Blood vessel leakage
- Blocked blood vessels
- Scarring formation
- Internal damage to nerve tissue
- Retinal detachment
Your ophthalmic surgeon may also conduct a fluorescein angiography test. During this test, your ophthalmic surgeon will inject a dye into your arm, granting them to follow how the blood flows in your eye.
- Your ophthalmic surgeon may take pictures of the colour inside your eye to understand which vessels get blocked, leaked, or broken.
- An optical coherence tomography exam creates some images of the retina.
- These photos allow your doctor to understand your retina's thickness.
- OCT exams enable your doctor to assess the amount of fluid in the retina.
How is diabetic retinopathy treated?
Your ophthalmic surgeon has a few treatment options for initial diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy treatment depends on the type and gravity of retinopathy. Photocoagulation incisions can help prevent vision loss. Photocoagulation incision uses a laser to control or cease leakage by burning the vessels to seal them.
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| Diabetic Retinopathy |
The classification of photocoagulation and other treatments includes the following:
- Scatter photocoagulation reduces the chance of blindness by burning hundreds of small holes in the eyes two or more times with a laser.
- Focal photocoagulation entails using a laser to target leaky vessels in the macula to maintain macular oedema from harsh conditions.
- Vitrectomy entails detaching scar tissue and cloudy liquid from the vitreous moisture of the eye.
How can you control diabetic retinopathy?
If you have diabetes, it is dominant to maintain healthy levels of the following to prevent diabetic retinopathy:
- BP
- Blood sugar
- Cholesterol
- Conclusion
The doctor may perform an eye exam to detect diabetic retinopathy.
- A fundus photograph or a fluorescein angiography may be employed to study the blood veins in the retina.
- Diabetic retinopathy treatment options include laser therapy to seal leaking blood vessels, pharmaceutical injections to help shrink aberrant blood vessels, and surgery to remove scar tissue or abnormal blood vessels.
- Diabetes patients should undergo frequent eye exams to detect diabetic retinopathy early and avoid vision loss.
Controlling blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels can all help lower the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy.