Diabetic eye disease
The diabetes has been identified as a major risk factor when suffering a series of eye diseases that receive the generic name of diabetic eye disease and some of which can lead to blindness. In fact, the eyes are, after the kidneys, the organs most affected by diabetes . Hence, compliance with treatment and adequate control of blood glucose levels is the best way to prevent them.
The most frequent are the following:
•Diabetic retinopathy: it is the most serious eye disease
that diabetes can cause and is characterized by inflammation of the retina as a
result of the weakening of the blood vessels that supply it due to the presence
of high levels of glucose in the blood. This situation can cause fluid or blood
to escape from these blood vessels, forming fibrous tissue that makes the image
sent to the brain blurry. The existence of arterial hypertension favors its
development. Sometimes this disease can cause a retinal detachment and as a
result cause blindness.
•Macular edema: it generally occurs in the advanced stages
of diabetic retinopathy and consists of inflammation of the macula. Affects
central vision.
•Optic neuropathy: The optic soul is damaged by the death of
nerve cells, for example due to blockage of blood vessels. Depending on the
damage caused, there is a visual loss that is irrecoverable.
•Cataract: although it is an eye disease typical of the
aging process, the existence of diabetes can significantly advance its onset.
Cataracts are characterized via the formation of a grayish film on the lens due
to the accumulation of proteins, so that it obstructs the passage of light,
blurring the view.
•Glaucoma: the diabetes doubles the risk that a person
suffers an increase in intraocular pressure (IOP) and therefore of developing
glaucoma. In the United States, for example, two-thirds of glaucomas have their
origin in poorly controlled diabetes , being one of the most important causes
of blindness in the world.
It is important to bear fashionable mind that some of these
eye diseases caused by diabetes begin without producing symptoms and develop
progressively, so it is advisable to carry out a complete eye examination every
so often to detect them as soon as possible, before the damage is irreversible.
