Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is the most common eye disease

Diabetic retinopathy, also known as simple retinopathy, involves tiny swellings in the walls of the blood vessels. Known as blebs, they show up as small dots on the retina and are usually accompanied by yellow patches of exudates (blood proteins).

Diabetic retinopathy is the most common form of diabetic eye disease. Diabetic retinopathy usually only affects people who have had diabetes (diagnosed or undiagnosed) for a significant number of years.

Retinopathy can affect all diabetics and becomes particularly dangerous, increasing the risk of blindness, if it is left untreated.

The risk of developing diabetic retinopathy is known to increase with age as well with less well controlled blood sugar and blood pressure level. As per WHO, 4.8% of the 37 million cases of blindness is due to diabetic retinopathy.

All people with diabetes should have a dilated eye examination at least once every year to check for diabetic retinopathy.

Diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy occurs when changes in blood glucose levels cause changes in retinal blood vessels. In some cases, these vessels will swell up (macular oedema) and leak fluid into the rear of the eye.

In other cases, abnormal blood vessels will grow on the surface of the retina. Unless treated, diabetic retinopathy can gradually become more serious and progress from ‘background retinopathy’ to seriously affecting vision and can lead to blindness.

Diabetic retinopathy includes 3 different types:

Symptoms of diabetic retinopathy

Like many conditions of this nature, the early stages of diabetic retinopathy may occur without symptoms and without pain. An actual influence on the vision will not occur until the disease advances.

Macular oedema can result from maculopathy and affect vision occurs if leaking fluid causes the macular to swell. New vessels on the retina can prompt bleeding, which can also block vision in some cases.

Symptoms may only become noticeable once the disease advances, but the typical symptoms of retinopathy to look out for include:

Causes of diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is caused by prolonged high blood glucose levels. Over time, high sugar glucose levels can weaken and damage the small blood vessels within the retina.

This may cause haemorrhages, exudates and even swelling of the retina.

This then starves the retina of oxygen, and abnormal vessels may grow. Good blood glucose control helps to lower diabetes retinopathy risks.

Risk from diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy risk factors include the following.

If any of the below affect you it’s worth having an retinopathy screening examination as quickly as possible.

The longer a person has diabetes, the greater the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy becomes. However, keeping blood glucose levels well controlled can help to significantly slow down the development of retinopathy.

People with diabetes should, however, be aware that a rapid improvement in blood glucose levels can lead to a worsening of retinopathy. A rapid improvement in blood glucose levels in this case is defined as a drop in HbA1c of 30 mmol/mol or 3%

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Prevent yourself from diabetic retinopathy

Long-term good blood glucose level management helps to prevent diabetes retinopathy and lower the risk of developing it. Heart disease risk factors also affect retinopathy risk and include stopping smoking, having regular blood pressure and cholesterol checks and undergoing regular eye check-ups.

The risk of developing diabetic retinopathy can be lessened through taking the following precautions:

Treatment for diabetic retinopathy

Laser surgery is often used in the treatment of diabetic eye disease, but each stage of diabetic retinopathy can be treated in a different way.

Background retinopathy has no treatment but patients will need regular eye examinations.

Maculopathy is usually treated with laser treatment (tiny burns that help to prevent new blood vessel growth and improve the nutrient and oxygen supply to the retina).

Note:- Even though it is usually painless and has no side effects, but can influence night driving and peripheral vision. So consult your Opthalmogist

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This type of laser treatment for diabetic retinopathy will not improve vision, but it can prevent deterioration. Proliferative retinopathy is also treated with lasers, with a scattering over the whole retina. This destroys the starved area of the retina. Serious diabetes retinopathy cases may require eye surgery.

This is usually diagnosed due to bleeding in the eye, late-stage proliferative retinopathy or ineffective laser treatment. This type of diabetic retinopathy eye surgery is called vitrectomy.

Diabetic maculopathy

The macula is the most well used area of the retina and provides us with our central vision. Maculopathy refers to a progression of background retinopathy into the macular. This can cause vision problems such as difficulty with reading and or seeing faces in the centre of your vision.

Proliferative retinopathy Proliferative retinopathy is an advanced stage of diabetic retinopathy in which the retina becomes blocked causing the growth of abnormal blood vessels.

These can then bleed into the eyes, cause the retina to detach, and seriously damage vision. If left untreated, this can cause blindness. If proliferative retinopathy is regularly monitored and treated, the development of retinopathy can help be limited and more severe damage may be prevented.