Diabetic retinopathy is a potential complication of diabetes that damages blood vessels in the eye, leading to vision loss and blindness. High blood sugar levels cause inflammation, which damages the retina. The disease progresses in two stages, with symptoms including blurry vision and floating black spots. Yearly eye checkups are recommended for people with diabetes.
Diabetic retinopathy is a potential complication of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. This disorder develops because fluctuating blood sugar levels can damage the blood vessels in the eye. People with diabetes are at increased risk of this eye disease if their blood sugar levels are not well controlled, because chronically high blood sugar levels promote inflammation. The blood vessels in the eye are particularly vulnerable to this inflammation due to their small size and delicacy. Symptoms of diabetic retinopathy can include blurry vision and floating black spots in the field of vision. If the condition progresses, partial or total blindness can result.
Retinopathy, or retinal damage, is the most common eye disease that can affect people with diabetes. The retina is a thin layer of tissue located at the back of the eye and is the focal point where images entering the eye are received and transmitted to the brain. Damage to the retina can prevent image reception and transmission, leading to vision loss and blindness. The main factor causing retinal damage is inflammation which is directly caused by high blood sugar, but other factors related to blood sugar levels can lead to diabetic retinopathy symptoms. For example, abnormally high levels of sugar in cells can cause abnormal protein reactions, which can negatively affect many aspects of cellular function.
Diabetic retinopathy develops in two stages, each of which has slightly different diabetic retinopathy symptoms. The first stage is called nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy and the second is called proliferative retinopathy. Nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy can be further divided into mild, moderate, and severe categories based on the severity of the eye damage.
Nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy develops when chronically high blood sugar levels lead to inflammation of blood vessels and microaneurysms. These are small areas of swelling in the blood vessels of the retina. As the disease progresses to the moderate stage, the blood vessels in the retina become blocked, and in the severe stage, progressively more vessels become blocked. In the nonproliferative phase, symptoms of diabetic retinopathy are not always present. When they do appear, symptoms are usually limited to blurred vision and the occasional presence of floating black spots in the field of vision.
In proliferative retinopathy, new blood vessels start growing in the retina in an attempt to repair the damage. These new vessels don’t cause any symptoms, but they are fragile and prone to rupture. Additional diabetic retinopathy symptoms can develop if these blood vessels break. Ruptured vessels can leak blood and cause severe vision loss or even blindness.
Symptoms of retinopathy take many years to develop because retinal damage is asymptomatic in the early stages of the disease. Sometimes, symptoms don’t appear until irreparable damage has been done to the retina, causing vision loss that can’t be restored. For this reason, people with diabetes are encouraged to have yearly eye checkups to help maintain eye health and vision.
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