People with diabetes may face any of the below types of diabetic eye disease. All can cause severe vision loss or even blindness. It is therefore necessary for all diabetics to have annual eye examinations. It is very easy to make an appointment – just phone up your local high street optometrists (opticians) and they should be able to fit you in.

Diabetic eye disease may include:

• Diabetic retinopathy: Damage to the blood vessels in the retina.
• Cataract: Clouding of the eye’s lens.
• Glaucoma: An increase in fluid pressure inside the eye that leads to damage to the nerve that travels from the brain to the eye (the optic nerve).

Diabetic retinopathy

What is diabetic retinopathy?

Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness in British adults. It is caused by changes in the blood vessels of the retina. The retina is the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye and therefore a healthy retina is necessary for good vision.

In some people with diabetic retinopathy, blood vessels may swell and leak fluid. In other people, abnormal new blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina.

What can you do?

If you have diabetic retinopathy, at first you may not notice changes to your vision. But over time, diabetic retinopathy can get worse and cause vision loss. Diabetic retinopathy usually affects both eyes. This is why it is essential for you to have regular annual eye examinations as you may not realise that there is anything wrong with your eyes until it is too late.

Cataract

What is cataract?

Normally light enters the eye from the front, passes through a clear lens, and reaches the back of the eye so you can see. However, if the lens becomes cloudy like frosted glass, light cannot pass through, and you cannot see properly. ‘Cataract’ is the name of the ‘cloudy’ human lens. You may notice blurred or misty sight, see double, or notice colours appear much duller than they did previously.

What can you do?

A cataract does not usually damage your eye in any way. It can be operated on safely at any time, thick or thin. A cataract may change the focusing in the eye, and you may need new spectacles now and again. If you think you do, ask your optician or the doctor in the hospital eye clinic. But glasses themselves do not help you see better if you have a cataract.

A cataract in one eye cannot lead to any damage in the other eye, and you cannot use the good eye too much and damage it. Similarly, sit close to the television if this helps you see it better: this will not damage your eyes. A cataract often develops in the other eye, but many people only get one in one eye.

Glaucoma

What is glaucoma?

Glaucoma is the name for a group of eye conditions in which the optic nerve is damaged at the point where it leaves the eye. This nerve carries information from the light sensitive layer in your eye, the retina, to the brain where it is perceived as a picture. A person with diabetes is nearly twice as likely to get glaucoma as other adults.

What can you do?

Early detection and treatment will usually prevent or slow down further damage by glaucoma; another reason to have those essential annual eye examinations. If you do experience some sight loss much can be done to help you use your remaining vision as fully as possible.

The contact details below can go in a box below the box on the right hand side with all the tabs in.

Who can I contact for further information?

Royal College of Ophthalmologists
17 Cornwall Terrace
London
NW1 4QW