Diabetic retinopathy

Posted on 9 April 2013

Do you have diabetes? Protect your sight with a simple but thorough dilated-pupil eye examination at least once a year. Dr Zoran Aleksic, a Mediclinic Cape Town ophthalmic surgeon, talks us through diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes that is potentially blinding. Yet, in 90% of even advanced cases, sight can be saved through timely intervention.

I have been diagnosed with diabetes? What concerns should I have for my sight?
Diabetes can harm your eyes. It increases your risk of glaucoma, cataracts and can bring on other complications, notably diabetic retinopathy, which affects half of all patients diagnosed with diabetes.

What is diabetic retinopathy and are there symptoms?
Diabetes can damage the tiny blood vessels in your retina at the back of your inner eye. The retina is the tissue that makes sight possible, turning light into nerve signals that are sent to the brain via the optic nerve, allowing us to see.
The trouble with diabetic retinopathy is that it can sneak up on you without symptoms and initially you may not notice a change in your vision. But over the years it can get worse and threaten your sight.
Some people may also develop macular edema, when the blood vessels either swell and leak onto the macula (the part of the retina which allows us to see detail) or block up, or new abnormal blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina. This would blur your vision and make it hard to read or drive, for example. You may have floaters or spots before your eyes and shadows or missing areas you can’t see. You need timely treatment to save your vision from clouding and your retina from irreversible damage.

Why is it vital to have an annual eye test?
Because many people with early diabetic retinopathy have no symptoms before major bleeding occurs in the eye or severe damage is caused, it is vital to have regular eye exams with a doctor trained to pick up and treat diabetic retinopathy.

What can I expect in an eye examination for diabetic retinopathy?
•    You’ll have an eye-chart test to measure how well you see at various distances.
•    Your pupils will be dilated with drops so that your doctor can examine more of the retina for sign of diabetic retinopathy. (Your close-up vision may be blurred for a few hours after this.)
•    Your doctor will use ophthalmoscopy to get first a narrow, magnified view of the retina.  and then, using a headset with a bright light, a wide, magnified view of retina.
•    And you’ll have a tonometry test, which is a standard test to check the fluid pressure in your eye. Elevated pressure can signal glaucoma.

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The information provided in this article was correct at the time of publishing. At Mediclinic we endeavour to provide our patients and readers with accurate and reliable information, which is why we continually review and update our content. However, due to the dynamic nature of clinical information and medicine, some information may from time to time become outdated prior to revision.