Diabetic Eye Disease Specialist

What is diabetic eye disease?

Diabetic eye disease refers to a group of eye problems that affects people with diabetes. Examples include cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic macular edema, and diabetic retinopathy. Eye damage associated with diabetes can lead to vision problems and even blindness if it’s left untreated. That’s why seeing your eye doctor at the first sign of vision changes is important. 

Controlling your blood sugar helps prevent diabetic eye disease.

What are the symptoms of diabetic eye disease?

If you have diabetic eye disease, you may experience common signs or symptoms, such as:

• Vision changes
• Vision loss
• Blurry vision
• Wavy vision
• Floaters
• Flashes of light
• Dark spots in your vision
• Impaired color vision

In the early stages of diabetic eye disease, you might not have any symptoms. Attending routine eye exams with experts at Suburban Eye Associates helps your eye doctor detect and treat diabetic eye disease before serious complications develop.

What are the risk factors for diabetic eye disease?

Anyone with diabetes can develop diabetic retinopathy and other diabetes-related eye diseases, but certain factors increase your risk. Examples include having diabetes for a long time, poor blood sugar control, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, pregnancy, and smoking.

How is diabetic eye disease diagnosed?

Your eye doctor reviews your medical history and symptoms and completes a comprehensive dilated eye exam to check for diabetes-related problems. They place drops in your eyes to widen the pupils, allowing your provider to examine larger areas at the back of your eyes. 

They test your vision, measure eye pressure, and might inject a special dye into a vein in your arm. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) or other imaging procedures help your doctor make a final diagnosis and develop a treatment plan.

How is diabetic eye disease treated?

Suburban Eye Associates specialists personalize diabetic eye disease treatments to meet your needs. They might recommend one or more of the following:

• Balancing blood sugar control
• Lowering cholesterol or blood pressure
• Smoking cessation
• Medications
• Injections
• Laser treatments
• Surgical procedures

When caught early, conservative treatments are often effective in preventing or delaying the worsening of diabetic eye disease. Your eye doctor evaluates your eyes regularly to help prevent serious complications. 

Don’t let diabetic eye problems lead to vision loss. Schedule a diabetic eye exam by calling the Suburban Eye Associates office today.