Diabetes and Your Vision - How to Prevent Damage to the Eyes

Diabetes can cause some serious effects on the eyesight of the diabetic person. In fact diabetes is the number one cause of blindness in America. Regardless of the type of diabetes, the elevated sugar levels in the blood of a person can cause serious damages to the nerves of the eyes. This may include these problems.
Retinopathy
Retinopathy means damage to the retina of eye because of diabetes. An estimate says that around 45 % of diabetic Americans suffer from Retinopathy. In this condition, the vessels supplying blood to the eyes are damaged, which causes vision loss or impairment. This condition may occur because of the blockage of the blood vessel supplying nourishment to the retina. The retina then gives a signal to the body to produce new vessels, so blocked ones can be replaced. This condition is termed diabetic retinopathy. The new blood vessels are the produced with the surface of the eye and retina, and are relatively brittle. As they are fragile, they may cause some leakage. This leakage causes blindness or blurred vision.
Macular Edema
Macular Edema is another form of diabetic retinopathy. The function of the macula in our eye is to make us see straight ahead. If the blood is leaked into the center of the eye it may cause swelling of macula. This swelling may cause distorted or blurred central vision.
Cataracts
Cataracts are the blurring of the tissues at the face of the eye. Diabetics are at the increased risk for developing cataracts.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is a condition in which some liquids are building up in the eyes. This building up of liquids, cause the blood pressure of the diabetics to rise. This high blood pressure causes the injury to the optic nerves, which in turn causes headaches and loss of vision.
How to Prevent Damage to the Eyes
There are many safeguard measures which can be taken by diabetics to prevent these damages. The most important amongst them is to have a dilated eye examination once a year. This prevents the diabetics from those damages which do not have any symptoms before they actually take place, like diabetic retinopathy. The optician should examine the retina and the optic nerves for any damages like leakage or swelling.
The risk of vision impairment can reduce up to 95 % if people with proliferate diabetic retinopathy receive proper medical treatment. Keeping the glucose levels in the constant range is the best preventive measure for avoiding any damage to the eyes of diabetics. The diabetics can also reduce the risk of eye damage by quitting smoking and keeping the blood pressure in the normal range