Diabetic Eye Care

How Does Diabetes Affect My Eyes?

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Diabetes is a disease that causes your blood sugar levels to be too high. In the short term, elevated blood sugar levels may cause the tissues of your eyes to swell. This causes temporary blurry vision that usually goes away within a few days or weeks.

If your blood sugar remains high for too long, it can damage the tiny blood vessels in the back of your eyes. This type of damage may even begin during prediabetes, which is when you have elevated blood sugar, but not high enough to be diagnosed with diabetes.

Damaged blood vessels may leak and cause swelling. When this occurs in the blood vessels in your retina, it’s called diabetic retinopathy.

How Do I Know if I Have Diabetic Retinopathy?

Diabetic retinopathy often doesn’t cause signs and symptoms in its early stages. As the condition progressively worsens, you may experience:

• Blurred vision
• Seeing dark spots
• Empty areas of vision
• Impaired color vision

Diabetic retinopathy typically affects both eyes and may eventually lead to vision loss. Early treatment from the diabetic eye care specialists at Rocky Mountain Eye Center can help prevent this from happening.

What are Other Diabetic Eye Diseases?

In addition to diabetic retinopathy, having diabetes increases your risk for other eye problems, such as cataracts and glaucoma. People with diabetes may also develop diabetic macular edema, which causes swelling in the part of your retina that produces the sharpest vision (macula).

How Do I Prevent Diabetic Eye Problems?

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The first step in preventing diabetic eye problems is to have routine eye exams at Rocky Mountain Eye Center. Their diabetic eye care specialists recommend how frequently you should schedule appointments based on the results of your exam and how well your blood sugar is controlled.

Other things you can do to prevent diabetic vision problems include:

• Managing your diabetes with a healthy diet and exercise
• Monitoring your blood sugar level
• Quitting smoking

It’s also important to call Rocky Mountain Eye Center as soon as you notice vision changes, such as blurriness.  

For expert diabetic eye care, call Rocky Mountain Eye Center or book an appointment online today.