Diabetes and Your Eye

Too often, I see patients who have vision problems due to BAD “diabetic retinopathy.” If a patient has a “retinopathy,” it means that something is wrong with the retina. If the retina problem is caused by diabetes (diabetic retinopathy), it most likely could have been prevented by better blood sugar control. Achieving good blood sugar control is easier said than done, however. One of my pet peeves with bad diabetic retinopathy is that, even if blood sugar control is taken out of the picture, it most likely wouldn’t have become so bad if the patient had come in for their annual eye exams. We can often treat the earlier stages more easily than the later stages. This is why we all recommend that all diabetic patients get eye exams at least once a year. Sometimes, with bad diabetic retinopathy, the eye is too far gone to ever get back normal vision. So, let’s encourage every diabetic patient who has NO eye problems to stick to the plan and get annual eye exams!