Diabetes is an illness that causes your blood sugar or blood glucose to rise to abnormally high levels. The cells in your body need these sugars for energy. It comes from the food that insulin breaks down to enable absorption into your body.

Categories of Diabetes

Diabetes exists in three distinct categories, all whose symptoms may affect your vision. These are:

Diabetes Type 1

Doctors define this form of diabetes as an autoimmune reaction when your body erroneously attacks itself. The result causes your body to stop the natural production of insulin. Symptoms of this disease develop rapidly in around 5-10% of those who get it. It has no way of prevention and requires daily intake of insulin for treatment.

Diabetes Type 2

In this category of diabetes, your body cannot use insulin adequately to maintain your blood sugar levels. Most people suffering from this disease suffer from this form of diabetes. Though common in adults, current statistics show an increasing presence in young adults, teenagers, and children. Because the disease progresses slowly over many years, it is often difficult to diagnose.

Gestational Diabetes

As the name suggests, this disease occurs in women who did not previously have diabetes. It increases the chances of your baby developing health issues after birth. However, it often fades away in the mother after the baby is born.

Types of Diabetic Eye Illnesses

Diabetes can be an underlying cause of several eye diseases. These include:

Diabetic Retinopathy

According to recent medical studies, this disease can occur in people with diabetes type 1 or 2. It results from damage to the retina, the light-sensitive tissue that lies at the rear of your eye. Initial stages of the disease may present no symptoms apart from mild vision issues. 

However, a lack of proper sugar control over a long period may lead to blindness.

Symptoms of diabetic retinopathy include:
 

• Vision loss

• Dark strings or spots that partially block your vision

• Fluctuating eyesight

• Empty or dark areas in your vision

• Blurry vision

Diabetic Macular Edema

The flood of blood sugar that comes with diabetes can damage or block the minute blood vessels in the retina. It causes microaneurysms or microscopic protrusions to develop on the vessel walls. 

These ooze or leak blood and fluid onto the back inner walls of your eyes. The leaking fluids cause edema or swellings in the macula, the central area of the retina. A culmination of these symptoms causes diabetic macular edema, which may lead to blindness without treatment.

Cataracts

A continuous influx of blood sugar can damage your eyes. It causes diabetes mellitus, which affects your ocular structures and causes eye complications like cataracts. Cataracts in diabetes mellitus are the leading cause of vision issues in people with diabetes. Advancements in the medical field have developed treatment for this condition through surgery.

Glaucoma

The eyes continuously produce aqueous humor, which is a clear fluid. It leaves through a meshwork of drainage channels in the eyes. The same meshwork constantly refreshes the fluid. Glaucoma involves the blockage of these channels, damaging the fibers in the optic nerves.

Other eye diseases that may result from diabetes include postoperative macular edema and posterior capsular opacification.

For more information on understanding the different types of diabetic eye diseases, visit Ishigo Optometry at our office in Gardena, California. Call (888) 564-0016 to book an appointment today.