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Uncontrolled high blood sugar in diabetics can cause various eye diseases. If not treated early, this condition has a high risk of causing vision problems. Some of them can even cause permanent eye damage.
In the short term, high blood sugar levels can cause changes in the shape of the eyepiece. This can make vision blurred.
If not treated for a long time, blood sugar will damage the blood vessels and nerves in the retina to cause blindness. Therefore, besides getting regular treatment, diabetics are strongly advised to visit an ophthalmologist regularly.
Various Eye Diseases in Diabetics
Here are some common eye diseases experienced by diabetics.
1. Blurred vision
High blood sugar levels make the lens of the eye swell to interfere with the eye's ability to see. To fix this, blood sugar must return to the normal range, which is between 70 mg / dL to 130 mg / dL before meals, and less than 180 mg / dL for one or two hours after meals.
If you have diabetes and there are complaints of impaired vision or blurred vision, immediately go to the ophthalmologist. This could be a symptom of eye disease due to diabetes complications.
2. Cataracts
Everyone is at risk of suffering from cataracts, but diabetics tend to experience it early and can get worse quickly.
Cataracts make the eye lens look cloudy like a white mist. Eye disease in diabetics can be treated with surgery, namely replacing the damaged eye lens with an artificial eye lens.
3. Glaucoma
An eye disease that can also arise due to complications of diabetes is glaucoma. Glaucoma occurs when fluid in the eye cannot flow properly, resulting in the buildup, and increasing pressure in the eyeball.
As a result, the nerves and blood vessels of the eye can be damaged due to pressure from the fluid, and cause visual impairment.
Uncontrolled diabetes is also at risk of causing sufferers to experience new blood vessel formation in the iris (the colored part of the eye). As a result, the eyeball fluid will increase, and increase the pressure inside the eye.
4. Diabetic retinopathy
To be able to see well, the retina of the eye requires adequate blood supply. In diabetics, high blood sugar levels can eventually damage the blood vessels and cause eye retinal disorders. This condition can lead to blindness if treated late.
Diabetic retinopathy usually takes several years to threaten the function of vision. The longer a person has diabetes, the more likely it is to develop eye disease, especially if the blood sugar level is not controlled by medication.
Read Also : Diabetic Neuropathy: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention
Prevent eye damage due to diabetes
The good news is that all four eye disorders due to diabetes can be prevented. The main prevention is to control blood sugar levels in the body.
Maintain fasting blood sugar levels below 130 mg / dL, blood sugar when under 180 mg / dL, and HbA1C levels below 7%. In addition to these three things, also do eye health screening by visiting an ophthalmologist every once a year. Thus, the risk of eye disorders due to diabetes mellitus can be minimized as little as possible.
For people with diabetes, don't forget to routinely seek treatment and control to the doctor on schedule. To maintain eye health, diabetics need to routinely do eye examinations to ophthalmologists every 1 to 2 years. Women who plan to become pregnant or are pregnant and have a history of diabetes also need to undergo an eye examination.
If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, immediately see an ophthalmologist if the vision is suddenly blurry, there seems to be a "hole", it seems there is light, glare, or there are black spots. Earlier the examination was carried out, a faster eye disease in diabetics can be treated.
