Types and prevention of diabetic retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy patients always suffer swelling and blood leakage in retinal blood vessels. The disease is often caused by fluctuating blood sugar levels and long-term diabetes. Juvenile onset (type one) diabetes requires more frequently regular evaluation than adults onset (type 2) diabetes. Most forms of diabetes can last 10 years in the early stage without causing diabetic retinopathy.
According to its reasons, diabetic retinopathy can to some degree be prevented by blood sugar control and high blood pressure control. However, even well-controlled diabetes may develop into diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy at early stages only cause blurry vision or no symptom at all, while advanced diabetic retinopathy is always accompanied by cloudy vision, blind spots or floaters.
Based on changes in the retina, diabetic retinopathy is generally classified into non-proliferative and proliferative types. As the early stage, non-proliferative retinopathy involves blood vessel breakage and blood leakage. Proliferative retinopathy is more serious that there is new blood vessel growth in an abnormal way within the retina, which may cause scarring or retinal detachment.
Laser photocoagulation can be used to cause regression of leaking blood vessels and prevent new vessel growth. In more serious cases that involve vitreous humor, vitrectomy is needed.
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Diabetic retinopathy signs and treatments
The American Academy of Ophthalmology has ever claimed that diabetic people are 25 times more likely to lose vision than normal individuals. However, there are less serious eye diseases that are also caused by diabetes, such as diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. It is widely known that diabetic patients can not use and store sugar in a normal way, resulting in high blood sugar. This condition may damage the blood vessels and diabetic retinopathy will be caused. More seriously, scar tissue can be caused and leads to retinal detachment.
External symptoms of mild and advanced diabetic retinopathy include floaters and double vision. If you have difficulty in reading, there is probably macular edema from fluid built-up in the macula. Double vision is caused by the affection of eye nerves. For precise diagnosis, a test named fluorescein angiography will be carried out. Injected into the body, the dye will be tracked during its spread with blood flow. Evaluation of the result photos can determine the severity of diabetic retinopathy.
High blood-sugar in diabetic patients brings great risk and they do not know when diabetic retinopathy happens. Once diagnosed with diabetes, patients should take a dilated eye exam every year, in order to detect early diabetic retinopathy signs.
Diabetic retinopathy has different stages. An early form of diabetic retinopathy displays in fluid leakage and bleeding in the retina, which cause retina to swell and build up deposit. Experts define this form of diabetic retinopathy as non-proliferative retinopathy or background retinopathy. Also named proliferative retinopathy, a later stage of retinopathy is much more serious. New blood vessels begin to grow and break and bleed into the center of the eye, which may lead to blindness.
There are many ways to reduce the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy. Since the disease is mostly associated with diabetes, the most preventive way is to control your blood-sugar level. Regular exercises and healthy diet are important. For early detection, you should monitor your blood pressure regularly.
With early detection and treatment, diabetic retinopathy can be treated successfully at a percentage of 95. For normal diabetic retinopathy, a painless procedure named laser photocoagulation can be used to seal off leaking blood vessels and remove new vessel growth. Diabetic-caused cataracts can be cured with cataract surgery. Investigational treatments for diabetic retinopathy are reported to improve the patient’s vision and Lucentis and Avastin initially used for macular degeneration have been proved to be effective for diabetic retinopathy in stopping vision loss.