Diabetes impairs a person’s blood chemistry by causing it to be too high in sugar content. Since the impaired blood circulates throughout the body, diabetics are susceptible to many other health conditions, and the eyes are one such area. The eyes depend on many tiny capillaries for their nourishment, and for their oxygen supply and removal of waste products.

Diabetic Retinopathy

The eye’s retina is the back layer, and contains light-sensitive cells. They receive the image information in light which enters the eye. They then process it to electrical energy and send it along the optic nerve to the brain. If the retina is damaged by diabetic retinopathy then vision deteriorates.

Diabetes causes damage to the retina’s blood vessels known as diabetic retinopathy. It occurs in four identifiable stages.

1. Background diabetic retinopathy (mild) – tiny areas of weakening develop in the walls of capillaries.
2. Background diabetic retinopathy (moderate) – some of the blood vessels bringing  nourishment to the retina begin to leak and cause swelling of the retina.  When the retina is swollen vision is blurred.
3. Severe and non-proliferative – more blood vessels close down and areas of the retina become starved of nourishment. They send signals asking the body to grow new blood vessels.
4. Proliferative – the body responds by growing new blood vessels on the retina, but they are fragile and dysfunctional. They easily leak blood, which severely impairs vision and can cause total blindness.

There are no symptoms early in diabetic retinopathy. As the disease advances your vision will be blurred or you may see spots in your field of vision, which are little specks of blood. More serious bleeding may then occur. If you are diabetic, be sure and get an eye exam at least once a year, to avoid or delay vision loss. The best time to treat diabetic retinopathy is before vision is affected. Treatment may consist of laser surgery in the office, surgery in the operating room, or injection of medicine into the eye.

Our diabetic eye disease ophalmologists are:

            Miriam E. Ridley, MD

            Strutha C. Rouse II, MD

            Frederick H.D. Weidman III, MD

If you have diabetes, it’s very important to take care of your eyes. The National Eye Institute recommends that you have them checked every year. To learn more about diabetic eye disease and how to avoid or minimize it, please call or email our office. We will be happy to schedule a personal consultation for you. Our office serves the entire Charlotte, N.C. area.