If you get diagnosed with diabetes, it is quite likely that your doctor will require an eye exam. This if for a number of reasons. For one, high blood sugar can dramatically alter your vision by changing the shape of the lens in the eye. This is a temporary change, so you would not want to update your glasses to the fleeting prescription.
Also, diabetes can cause faulty blood vessels to grow all throughout the eye (specifically the retina, optic nerve, and iris). These new blood vessels are very wispy and leaky. This causes a whole host of sight threatening issues. They can then cause bleeding and subretinal fluid that permanently alters the sensitive tissue of the eye. This is called diabetic retinopathy and is the leading cause of preventable vision loss in adults.
One lesser known problem with the new vascularization is that it can cause angle closure glaucoma. If we discovered this neovascularization, laser and/or injection treatments are the next steps to save your vision. There have been many times that our doctors have discovered these findings on an undiagnosed patient.
We then collaborate on care in getting the proper treatment. The whole body is connected, so annual eye exams help uncover systemic conditions. Did you ever think that getting your eyes checked yearly would help keep your entire body healthy?
