Diabetic Retinopathy

Description

Diabetic Retinopathy, also known as diabetic eye disease, is when damage occurs to the retina due to diabetes which can eventually lead to blindness.
It is an ocular manifestation of diabetes, a systemic disease, which affects up to 80% of all patients who have had diabetes for 10 years or more. Despite these intimidating statistics, research indicates that at least 90% of these new cases could be reduced if there were proper and vigilant treatment and monitoring of the eyes. The longer a person has diabetes, the higher his or her chances of developing Diabetic Retinopathy.

Symptoms

Diabetic retinopathy often has no early warning signs. Even macular edema, which can cause rapid vision loss, may not have any warning signs for some time. In general, however, a person with macular edema is likely to have blurred vision, making it hard to do things like read or drive. In some cases, the vision will get better or worse during the day.