Diabetic Eye Exams

Diabetes can be detected during a comprehensive eye exam, even before you begin to exhibit noticeable symptoms. That’s just one of the many reasons you should be visiting your optometrist regularly. Routine eye exams are a critical component of your overall health care strategy.

Individuals with diabetes have a higher chance of developing a variety of serious conditions that, if left untreated, could compromise their vision. These conditions include:

• Diabetic Macular Edema: In its advanced stages, diabetes can cause fluid to accumulate under the macula, slowly damaging these delicate cells and leading to central vision loss.
• Diabetic Retinopathy: Diabetes damages the small, delicate blood vessels in your retina, causing them to become weak and leak blood and fluid. Your retina may try to compensate for this by growing new blood vessels, but these are generally not robust and are also prone to leakage. As diabetic retinopathy progresses, the damaged blood vessels are no longer able to provide your retina with the oxygen it needs, leading to vision loss.
• Cataracts: Individuals with diabetes are more likely to develop cataracts at a younger age than individuals who do not have diabetes.
• Glaucoma: Individuals with diabetes are twice as likely to develop glaucoma than those without diabetes.

Diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma don’t typically exhibit symptoms until their more advanced stages, which makes them incredibly difficult to detect without a comprehensive eye exam. If these serious conditions are allowed to progress, they can cause permanent vision loss or even blindness.

Individuals with diabetes are also more likely to experience double vision and blurry vision, as well as frequent fluctuations in their prescription.