What's the connection between diabetes and eye disease?
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Healthy Humans answered:Diabetes increases the chance of experiencing an eye disorder, although many such disorders are minor. But diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in people ages 20 to 74, and thus should not be taken lightly. People with diabetes should have regular eye exams in order to identify and treat problems as they arise.
High blood sugar causes the lens of the eye to swell, resulting in blurred vision. Returning to a target blood sugar range should eventually improve this condition. Ongoing blurred vision might indicate one of three eye complications that are common to diabetics: retinopathy, cataracts, and glaucoma.
Retinopathy, caused by changes in the blood vessels of the retina, is the most common diabetic eye disease. In one stage of retinopathy, capillaries in the eye swell and develop pouches, which can lead to blurred vision. At a more advanced stage, blood vessel damage leads to scar tissue and the growth of weaker, leaking blood vessels. Sometimes there are no symptoms of this retinal damage, which is just another reason to stay on top of regular eye exams.
Blurred or glared vision might be a sign of a cataract, a clouding of the lens of the eye. Diabetics are 60 percent more likely than non-diabetics to develop the condition, more likely to develop it at an early age, and more likely to have the condition progress rapidly. Wearing glare‐control glasses and sunglasses might help with mild cataracts; more developed cataracts are usually surgically removed.
Heightened pressure in the eye can cause glaucoma, which results in inadequate drainage of liquid in the eye, damage to nerves and blood vessels, and limited blood flow to the retina and the optic nerve. Glaucoma might not be accompanied by early symptoms. It is often treated with eye drops, laser surgery, or other forms of surgery.
Integrative Health Solution: Recommendations:
- Good UV blocking sunglasses
- 1,000mg vitamin C and 1,000 mg MSM daily
- Consider L‐carnosine eye drops 2‐3 times daily.
Diabetes increases the chance of experiencing an eye disorder, although many such disorders are minor. But diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in people ages 20 to 74, and thus should not be taken lightly. People with diabetes should have... More
