Jenny Belken, OD, Southwest Health Eye Center
Did you know that diabetes can potentially cause blindness? In fact, diabetes is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss in adults between the ages of 20-74, according to the National Eye Institute.
The prevalence of diabetes in our population has been increasing exponentially. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s 2021 report, approximately 38.4 million people in the United States were diabetic and 97.6 million were considered pre-diabetic. The American Diabetes Association reports that approximately 1.2 million Americans are newly diagnosed with diabetes each year.
If you are a diabetic patient, your primary care provider has likely recommended you have an annual eye examination. Have you ever wondered why this is needed? Optometrists are often one of the first health care providers to examine undiagnosed diabetics and discover changes. Some of these early changes that occur in the eyes from diabetes are frequent glasses changes, early onset cataracts, and bleeding in the small vessels of the retina (diabetic retinopathy).
Frequent increases or changes in your glasses prescription can occur in diabetes due to uncontrolled sugar levels causing the lens in your eye to swell and change shape. Diabetics are also more likely to develop cataracts at a younger age. Cataracts cause a “clouding” of the lens inside the eye, which makes vision blurry.
One of the more severe diabetic eye complications is called retinopathy, or bleeding in the small blood vessels located within the retina of the eye. This bleeding occurs due to the high concentration of sugar causing damage to the walls of the very small blood vessels in the eye. As the walls of the vessels are damaged, blood leaks out and compromises the fragile light-sensitive cells of the retina. Sometimes the eye will try and grow new vessels to fix the problem (called neovascularization), but this results in more complications such as a severe form of glaucoma. Diabetic damage to the eye can occur silently, without pain or noticeable vision changes. Patients typically will not notice changes in their vision until the disease is in the more advanced stages. Regular diabetic eye examinations allow for early detection of these changes before vision is affected. Diabetic retinopathy accounts for approximately 12% of all new cases of blindness each year and is a leading cause of blindness in adults.
Early detection allows for timely diagnosis and appropriate management. Our goal as eye care providers is to help preserve vision and reduce the risk of vision loss. Annual comprehensive eye examinations are essential for detecting early changes before diabetic complications become severe enough to threaten vision. Keeping blood sugar levels under control has been shown to dramatically decrease the risk of developing diabetic changes in the eye. The risk of diabetic retinopathy has been shown to decrease by as much as 76% by maintaining normal blood sugar concentrations.
If you have not had your annual diabetic eye examination, the Eye Center providers welcome you to have a thorough exam of your eyes for signs of diabetic changes. Preserving your vision is just as important to Eye Care providers as it is to you!
If you have any questions about your eye health or have diabetes and want to talk more about how your condition can affect your eyes, please do not hesitate to contact the Eye Center at Southwest Health at (608) 342-2020. We have four convenient Eye Center locations: two in Platteville (at our hospital and at McGregor Plaza), as well as in Darlington and Lancaster.