Have you been facing blurry visions time and again? This might be due to diabetes!
People can have eye issues if they are diabetic or have diabetes. These are called diabetic eye diseases. These ailments include cataracts, diabetic macular edema, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy.
Diabetes itself is a nasty disease. The majority of middle-aged people around the globe have diabetes. Studies have found that diabetes over time can cause serious damage to your eyes. You may face severe blindness and hazy sight.
Gautam Buddha said every person is the author of their health or disease. And just like the author holds the ultimate authority over their novels, you have the ultimate control over your life.
Hence, in order to manage/avoid diabetes and maintain a healthy lifestyle, you can take measures to stop diabetic eye disease from occurring or from growing worse.
Let us understand how exactly diabetes can affect your eyesight and how you can prevent it.
How Can Diabetes Affect Your Eyes?
When your blood glucose, typically known as blood sugar, is excessively elevated, it can result in diabetes. The fact that it might ultimately impair your vision is something new and must be understood.
Does that mean you will have vision loss if you have diabetes? Not necessarily!
It is very unlikely to experience loss of vision due to increased blood glucose in the short term. Sometimes, when altering your diabetic care regimen or medications, people can have temporary blurred vision for a few days or weeks.
However, high blood sugar levels for longer periods might affect fluid balance or swell the tissues in your eyes that aid in focusing, impairing your vision.
Common Diabetic Eye Diseases
There are several kinds of eye disorders that you can have if you have diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy is by far the most prevalent.
● Diabetic Retinopathy
This is the leading cause of blindness by diabetes in the world. It is found mostly in adults.
Simply put, it is alterations in the retina’s blood vessels caused due to elevated blood glucose levels. This either causes the vessels to leak or to sprout aberrant new blood vessels on the retina’s surface.
However, there are several others which include:
● Macular Edema
The macula region is responsible for clear, straight vision.
This region might expand due to leaky blood vessels brought on by diabetes. As a result, you might have contorted or blurry vision.
● Glaucoma
The term glaucoma is common in medical science. One of them is neovascular glaucoma. And one of its major causes is diabetes.
The blood vessels in the retina may become busted by increased blood sugar levels, which causes vision impairment.
● Cataracts
Cataracts are generally associated with old age. However, your diabetes, nasty as it is, might cause your eyes to develop cataracts early. However, it is entirely curable with a simple surgery.
Diabetic Retinopathy
To understand the concept, we need to understand the human eye’s basic construct briefly.
The inner lining of each eye is the retina. It converts light into signals that your brain can understand to enable you to view the environment around you.
Now, what does diabetic retinopathy do? It damages the blood vessels in the blood-rich retina.
Sounds harsh, right? It is. The blood vessels may disintegrate, dilate, or leak into the retina during the early stages of diabetic retinopathy.
As the condition worsens, certain blood vessels on the retina’s surface block off, stimulating the growth or proliferation of new blood vessels. This causes pain, blurry vision, and impairment of your eyes.
Preventive Measures
Since these eye diseases are caused due to diabetes, that is, high blood sugar levels, the cure to these diseases is effective diabetes control.
Here are a few pointers:
● The first step in controlling diabetes is lowering blood sugar levels. This can be achieved effectively by maintaining a diet with essential nutrients and a proper lifestyle. The key to a healthy lifestyle includes regular exercise and good mental health.
● Now, maintenance of a healthy diet includes low cholesterol intake. This will keep your diabetes in check and hence your vision too. Also, reduce the cholesterol in your blood and ensure healthy arteries and good heart health.
Bottom-Line
Don’t feel down during any adverse situation your life throws you. Remember, you can overcome anything!
Specialized eye care professionals can help you treat your eye condition with expert guidance.
However, remember that diabetes-induced eye problems can easily be avoided by checking your blood sugar levels. Controlling the root cause of your disease will give you the power to stop it from happening!