Diabetes & Your Eyes

“Eyes are the window to your soul”-William Shakespeare

They also give us a pretty clear view of your overall health, and that includes signs and symptoms of diabetes.

The most common form of diabetes is called Type II or adult onset diabetes, which means your body doesn’t use the insulin it makes very well or doesn’t make enough insulin to start with. As the condition worsens, the body will need a replacement for that insulin to function.

Most patients are diagnosed with pre-diabetes 3-5 years before their lab work indicates they are diabetic. Even scarier, according to Harvard Medical School, there are about 75 million people living in the United States who meet pre-diabetic criteria, but don’t realize it.

How can you tell if you are diabetic? Anyone who is over 45, or is considered overweight, should get screened for diabetes annually. If you have a strong family history of diabetes or know you have been making poor diet choices, now might be a great time to speak with your doctor.

Your eye doctor will also screen you for diabetes… using the back of your eye! The doctor will look to see if you have bleeding in the small blood vessels in the back of your eye, which is called the retina. This bleeding can happen before you have signs and symptoms.

Diabetes causes damage to all of the blood vessels in your body, but your eyes are more sensitive to the damage!

Pre-diabetics rarely have eye symptoms, but people who have long term uncontrolled glucose (sugar) levels may experience trouble reading or dark spots in their vision

These small vision changes can progress, without treatment, to severe problems like retinal detachments and/or blindness.

The good news is your Family Eye Care optometrist will check your eyes regularly for developing problems and may help you discover signs and symptoms of diabetes.

We always advocate for positive diabetes management, which includes diet and exercise, as well as diabetic medications prescribed from your doctor. You can prevent diabetes and Family Eye Care is here to help!

Need an appointment? Click here to schedule one today.

 

Contributed by:

Amanda Ernst, MSN, RN, CEN