5 important steps to help prevent diabetic eye disease

Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, usually occurs when the body does not produce enough insulin or has insulin resistance, leading to an increase in blood sugar. Normally, sugar is considered the main source of energy for most cells in the body, but when there is too much sugar in the blood, in the long run it will lead to serious damage to many organs in the body. body, such as the blood vessels, heart, kidneys, and eyes.
When small blood vessels in the retina of the eye leak, they can block or form new blood vessels (neovascular) at the surface of the retina. These are the typical symptoms of diabetic retinopathy.
Long-term diabetes that is not treated early can lead to the development of diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or cataracts. Of these, diabetic retinopathy is the most common complication of diabetes and is capable of damaging the retina in nearly half of all patients with diabetes. Therefore, diabetes and eye disease are closely related.
The risk of diabetic retinopathy is increased in pregnant women, people with poor blood sugar management, people with hyperlipidemia and high blood pressure. Your chances of developing this condition also increase the longer you have diabetes.
According to some recent studies, up to 90% of diabetes-related complications of blurred vision (such as vision loss due to diabetes) are preventable if the disease is detected and treated. early treatment. Therefore, people with diabetes should have an annual eye exam even if their vision is still good.

In addition, diabetes can also cause your vision to be reduced or lost even if you do not have diabetic retinopathy. If blood sugar tends to spike uncontrollably, it will adversely affect the lens of the eye, causing the eyes to become blurred. However, vision will return if blood sugar levels are soon returned to normal.

If you have diabetes, you have an increased risk of several eye diseases, including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and cataracts. However, you can completely protect your vision and reduce the risk of eye disease if you follow the following ways:
2.1. Get an eye exam at least once a year In the early stages, diabetic eye disease often doesn't have any specific symptoms. A pupil dilator eye exam will give your ophthalmologist a closer look at your retina and optic nerve before symptoms of vision changes appear. In addition, regularly monitoring the health of your eyes will help you to have early treatment when the damage caused by the disease begins to appear.
2.2. Tight control of blood sugar When blood sugar levels get too high, it can affect the shape of the lens in the eye, leading to blurred vision. This will go away once blood sugar returns to a stable level.
In addition, too high blood sugar also contributes to damage to the small blood vessels in your eyes, thereby setting the stage for eye problems, such as diabetic retinopathy. Therefore, maintaining and controlling blood sugar well will help you prevent these dangerous complications.

2.3. Maintain stable blood pressure and cholesterol levels High blood pressure and cholesterol levels in the blood are the leading factors that increase the risk of eye diseases and reduce vision. Ideally, to protect the health of your eyes, you should try to maintain your blood pressure and blood fats within the most ideal range possible.
2.4. Quit smoking The habit of smoking is considered to be the main cause of increased risk of diabetic retinopathy and a number of other eye diseases related to high blood sugar levels. Therefore, giving up smoking will help you avoid health risks to your eyes.
2.5. Maintain a daily exercise routine Exercising is not only great for overall health, but it's also good for your eyes. In addition, it also helps you control and improve your diabetes. Therefore, you should try to create and maintain a daily exercise routine to prevent eye problems caused by diabetes.
It can be seen that the complications of diabetes affecting the eyes are very dangerous, so the patient should not be subjective, in addition to maintaining a suitable diabetic diet, the patient also needs to regularly Regularly perform periodic health check-ups, through which the doctor will understand the progress of the disease so that appropriate adjustments can be made, avoiding the long-term cause of diabetic eye blindness.
In addition to developing the package of screening for diabetes and dyslipidemia for people at high risk of diabetes, Vinmec International General Hospital also develops individual services to help check Regular check-ups for people with diabetes to avoid damage and complications of the disease from spreading to other organs.
The examination process at the hospital is always performed by a team of specialized Endocrinologists with many years of experience in the profession. Therefore, customers can be assured of the quality of services and medical care at Vinmec.

Reference source: aao.org