Diabetes Is a Contributing Cause of Eye Disease

Diabetes is widespread in the United States. Nearly 1 in 10 Americans—about 34 million people—have diabetes, and almost another 88 million have prediabetes. Diabetes can lead to several health problems that could affect your teeth, heart, kidneys, and even your eyes.

Comprehensive eye exams can help detect the presence of diabetes and its complications. However, without proper management, these signs could lead to problems that may affect your eye health and vision quality.

Get help managing the effect diabetes can have on your eyes. Please, book an appointment today.

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How Diabetes Affects Your Eyes

Diabetes is a systemic condition that affects how your body produces and uses insulin. Insulin acts like a “key” that helps sugar, also known as glucose, enter your cells. If glucose doesn’t enter your cells, you’ll have high blood sugar.

Elevated blood sugar levels contribute to the development of different eye diseases and conditions, some of which can permanently damage your vision. The best way to detect these problems is to have an eye exam, during which we will take a detailed look at your eye health.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common eye diseases linked to diabetes. This disease occurs when high blood sugar levels damage, weaken, or create bulges in your retina’s blood vessels, potentially causing them to break, leak fluids, and damage your vision.

As the disease advances, it can cause abnormal blood vessels to grow. These vessels can:

Cause scar tissue, leading to retinal detachment.
Block fluid drainage, leading to increased eye pressure and glaucoma.
Leak fluids into the vitreous, causing floaters.

Diabetic Macular Edema

Diabetic macular edema is an eye disease that occurs as a complication of diabetic retinopathy. As fluids leak from broken blood vessels, they can collect under your macula, the center part of your retina responsible for straight-ahead vision. These fluids can cause the macula to swell and potentially damage your vision.

Glaucoma

Diabetes nearly doubles your risk of developing open-angle glaucoma.

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that affects your optic nerve. Glaucoma generally occurs when you have high intraocular pressure (IOP), but it can also develop if your IOP levels are within normal levels.

Learn more about glaucoma on our Eye Disease Diagnosis & Management page.

Cataracts

Cataracts are an eye condition that causes your clear, crystalline lens to become more rigid and cloudy, preventing less light from reaching your retina. Cataracts are a natural part of aging, but diabetes can increase their chance of developing at a younger age.

Preserve Your Vision

We’re here to help you preserve your vision. If you have diabetes, please give our team a call and start taking control of your vision today.

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Find us in the same shopping center as Vons, UPS, and Colony Cleaners right on Regents Road. We offer parking in front of our practice with accessible options available.