Prevalance of Diabetes
Diabetes is a serious metabolic disorder that affects the ability of the body to process glucose. Glucose is consumed through the diet and enters the bloodstream after leaving the small intestine. According to the American Diabetes Association, over 23.6 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes.
Complications of Diabetes
Diabetics who manage their disease can live normal and productive lives. However, left unmanaged, diabetes can result in a number of secondary complications that include kidney failure, nerve damage, heart disease, loss of limb and blindness.
How Diabetes Affects the Eyes
Unmanaged diabetes affects the eyes through diabetic retinopathy. Retinopathy is a broad description of eye damage that occurs in three stages: background diabetic retinopathy, maculopathy and proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Background Diabetic Retinopathy
Background diabetic retinopathy occurs in people with long term, unmanaged diabetes and rarely affects their vision. The blood vessels inside the eye begin to bulge and leak blood or fluid inside the eye.
Maculopathy
Maculopathy develops from background retinopathy and damages the macula---an area the size of a pin head that is responsible for seeing fine detail, reading, writing and distinguishing colors.
Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy
Proliferative diabetic retinopathy causes blocked blood vessels to the retina. The retina acts like a camera in distinguishing objects and contains a network of delicate blood vessels. When blood vessels become blocked, the eye creates new blood vessels that grow on the surface of the retina, where they can cause scar tissue and cause retinal detachment.
