Diabetic retinopathy is a type of eye disease caused by diabetes-related chronically high or variable blood sugar.
Diabetic retinopathy occurs when the retina's small blood vessels become weakened due to years of high blood sugar. Retinopathy is a catch-all term for any type of damage to the retina, which is one of the deepest tissues of the eye.
Diabetic retinopathy, if left untreated, can result in vision loss and blindness. Getting treatment as soon as possible, as well as managing diabetes, can help prevent or postpone vision problems.
1. Signs and Symptoms of Diabetic Retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) progresses through four stages, each with its own set of symptoms.
Because DR often has no noticeable symptoms in the early stages, the disease often goes undetected until it affects vision.
Floaters, or spots that appear across your field of vision, can be caused by bleeding from damaged blood vessels in the retina. Floaters can sometimes get to the surface on their own.
Mild Nonproliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (NPDR)
At this stage, small areas of balloon-like swelling in the retinal blood vessels, known as microaneurysms, form and may leak fluid into the retina.
Moderate NPDR
Blood vessels that provide important nourishment to the retina may swell and lose their ability to transport blood as the disease progresses.
As a result of these symptoms, the appearance of the retina may change during this stage. These changes, however, would be visible only to your eye doctor during a comprehensive eye exam.
Untreated moderate NPDR can cause diabetic macular edema or swelling in the retina's macular region, which can cause serious vision loss.
Severe NPDR
The blood supply to the retina is disrupted at this stage, causing further damage to the blood vessels.
Diabetic Proliferative Retinopathy (PDR) The retina secretes growth factors to generate new blood vessels at this advanced stage of DR.
These new blood vessels form on the inside surface of the retina as well as in the vitreous gel, which is the jelly-like fluid that fills the center of the eye.
These new blood vessels are more likely to leak and bleed because they are fragile, resulting in scar tissue that can shrink and lead to retinal detachment.
2. Duration of Diabetic Retinopathy
Although there is no cure for diabetic retinopathy, there is some hope for improvement. With careful diabetes management, mild levels can be treated.
If you have diabetic retinopathy in its early stages, treatment may not be required right away, and your doctor will closely monitor your eyes. Blood sugar control can help slow or stop the progression of this eye disease.
3. Treatment Options for Diabetic Retinopathy
The longer you wait to treat diabetic retinopathy, the more likely you are to lose your vision permanently.
If you have early, mild, or even moderate NPDR, you may not require immediate treatment. Nonetheless, your eye doctor will most likely want to closely monitor your condition with regular eye exams.
A severe NPDR or PDR diagnosis will almost certainly necessitate immediate surgery.
Because diabetes is a chronic disease, additional retinal damage and vision loss may occur even after surgery. You should continue to have routine eye exams to keep an eye on your condition.
4. Prevention of Diabetic Retinopathy
The most important way to avoid diabetic retinopathy is to stick to your diabetes treatment plan. Maintaining a healthy blood sugar level should help reduce your risk of not only diabetic retinopathy but also all other diabetes-related complications.
Because diabetic retinopathy is essentially irreversible, it is very important to take care of your health to prevent it from happening in the first place. Good blood sugar control is essential for avoiding long-term complications like diabetic retinopathy.