Symptoms of Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic Retinopathy is one of several eye diseases that can affect the vision of diabetic patients. Among some of the severe vision problems it can cause include vision loss and even total blindness in the individual. It is classified as damage to the nerves and the blood vessels that are in the retina of the eye. For the individual, there are at first few if any changes to the vision. You can be diagnosed without any real symptoms being present, but it can and will worsen as the time progresses and the patient gets older. It is a disease of time progression, so the longer you have diabetes, the better your chances for getting a diabetic eye disease will get. Maintaining a stable blood sugar is the only hope to prolonging when you'll get eye damage. There are a couple different treatments available when the diabetic retinopathy reaches the stage when doctors will typically work on the eyes. One procedure is called scatter laser treatments. It is where there are 1,000-2,000 laser cuts in the area of the retina that is away from the macula. This will cause the abnormal vessels to shrink. It will take about two or three sessions to do this procedure due to the amount of laser cuts to do. It will also give you some vision loss but it will save the rest of the sight. The other procedure is called a vitrectomy. During this procedure blood is removed from the eye. It is where there is blood in the vitreous gel of the eye. The doctor will inject a salt solution where the vitreous gel was. The eye is generally red and sensitive, but you will not be in the hospital long term going home usually the same day. Early signs of the disease are "floaters" in the eyes. There are some blood pooling in the eye that can be small, looking like a bloodshot eye. Your vision professional, one that does the eye exams you will be getting, will be looking for certain set symptoms. Leaking blood vessels and any changes to those blood vessels will be seen as they push a dye through the vessels and a picture is taken. They will look for any pale fatty deposits on the retina, this too is a sign of a leaking blood vessel. Swelling of the retina, a condition called macular edema, will be noted if it is occurring. You may have some damaged nerve tissues. There are some ways to prolong when you will get some symptoms and keeping your blood sugar as close to normal as possible is one of them. If you are diabetic, take care of yourself and get your eyes checked twice a year so that you can be properly monitored for any and all diabetic eye diseases.