Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic Retinopathy is a common and sight-threatening condition found in diabetics. As a result of high blood sugar levels, blood vessels in the retina narrow and leak blood causing damage to the retina.

There are different grades of retinopathy; background retinopathy, proliferative retinopathy and maculopathy. During the early stages, you may not notice any vision problems but left uncontrolled, vision becomes affected with increasing retinal damage. For this reason, diabetics including children from the age of 12 should have a diabetic screening visit once a year and treatment will depend on the stage of the condition.

Controlling blood sugar levels, blood pressure level and cholesterol level together with smoking cessation, exercising more regularly and a good diet is often advised.

Eye 2 Eye are pleased to offer diabetic patients enhanced screening which rather than just photographing the surface of the retina scans the eye using Optical Cohereance Tomography (OCT) to reveal the different layers making up the retinal structure to pick up subtle changes earlier. Diabetic patients may also require a dilated fundus examination which involves using drops to temporarily open the pupil wider for a more thorough retinal assessment.