Diabetic Retinopathy – Types, Causes, and Symptoms

Diabetics can face a number of eye problems associated with the disease. Diabetes affects the body in many ways, some which may go unnoticed until damage has already begun. It does not allow the pancreas to use or store sugar within our bodies properly. This creates changes in the veins, arteries, and capillaries, including the blood vessels in the eyes.

Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetic eye disease associated with damage among the blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. Damage can be mild to severe, development is gradual, and without treatment the disease can result in vision loss.

Types of Diabetic Retinopathy:

· Nonproliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (NPDR)

This is the early stage of the disease in which blood vessels in the retina begin to leak fluids, blood, and fat deposits, which build up and can cause swelling of the retina. In this stage, there are usually no vision problems. However, NPDR can lead to macular edema, the swelling of the macula. The macula is an area at the center of the retina. When too much fluid or blood from the retina has leaked into the macula, it cannot function properly due to abnormal swelling. This causes blurred pinpoint vision. Your pinpoint vision allows you to read or recognize faces.

· Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (PDR)

A more serious form of diabetic retinopathy, PDR occurs after blood vessels within the retina close-called macular ischemia. This causes new abnormal blood vessels to grow, called neovascularization, but these vessels do not provide proper blood flow because they are fragile and can easily bleed. This can cause a number of serious eye problems including traction retinal detachment, neovascular glaucoma, and vitreous hemorrhage. With PDR, both central and peripheral vision can be affected.

Traction retinal detachment occurs when scar tissue from the new abnormal blood vessels shrinks and pulls the retina, causing it to detach from the back wall of the eye.

Neovascular glaucoma occurs when neovascularization blocks the drainage channel of the eye, causing pressure to build up in the eye. You can learn more about glaucoma here: Causes of Glaucoma and Diagnosis and Treatment of Glaucoma.

Vitreous hemorrhage occurs when the abnormal blood vessels bleed into the vitreous, a clear fluid in the center of the eye. This can prevent light from reaching the retina.

Causes & Risks of Diabetic Retinopathy

· Elevated blood sugar levels
· High Blood Pressure
· Smoking
· High Cholesterol
· Pregnancy (retinopathy can progress with pregnancy)

The primary cause of diabetic retinopathy is from allowing blood sugar levels to remain consistently elevated for a prolonged period of time. It is vital to maintain a normal range (70-100) with diabetes, in order to prevent damage not only to the eyes, but also to the body’s other vital organs. Managing your blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol can help prevent the progression of diabetic retinopathy and other diabetic eye diseases.

Symptoms of Diabetic Retinopathy

• Difficulty with bright light
• Excessive watering of the eyes
• Floaters (spots floating in your vision)
• Trouble seeing in dimly lit areas
• Pain, itching, redness in the eyes

The symptoms are hardly noticeable at first, which makes this condition even more difficult to detect. Vision usually becomes impaired on a gradual basis. All of the above symptoms may not occur, but for this reason, it is of the utmost importance that you maintain regular visits with an eye care professional, at least on a yearly basis. Once vision loss has occurred, it is more difficult to regain sight as you may have once known it, but with the correct treatment from your eye care professional, you may very likely prevent any further damage to your eyes.

Learn about diagnosis and treatment of diabetic retinopathy, click here.