Diabetic Retinopathy.
What it is.
Diabetes affects 16 million Americans. In addition to causing numerous systemic complications - from kidney failure to hypertension and cardiovascular disease - diabetes is one of the leading causes of blindness among working?age Americans. In fact, the National Eye Institute says that diabetics are 25 times more likely to go blind than the general population. That's why diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in patients ages 20 to 74. And that’s why we devote so much space to it here.
Diabetic retinopathy is an eye disease that affects the light sensitive retinal tissue at the back of the eye. Diabetic retinopathy comes in two forms:
-Background retinopathy. In this the earlier and milder form of the disease, tiny blood vessels within the retina deteriorate. Some vessels may shrink, others swell or form microaneurysms – weak spots where the blood vessel wall balloons out. These weak blood vessels can then leak fluid, causing the normally thin retina to swell. If these leaky vessels leave deposits that build up on the retina, it may cause blurry vision. Background retinopathy usually advances very slowly – and may not demonstrate any symptoms for many years.
-Proliferative retinopathy. Twenty percent of diabetics with background retinopathy will develop this more severe progression of the disease. When this happens, new blood vessels actually grow on the retina or optic nerve. These weak blood vessels can rupture and bleed into the clear center of the eye. The resulting blood can blur vision by blocking light from reaching the retina . The rupturing blood vessels create scar tissue that further interferes with vision. Long-term bleeding and scarring can cause the retina to pull away from the wall of the eye. If the retina detaches, the result is severe vision loss, which requires immediate surgery. The longer the duration of the diabetes and the poorer it is controlled, the higher the risk of progression to proliferative diabetic retinopathy and severe vision loss.