Diabetic retinopathy.
Diabetic retinopathy is the medical condition which involves the progressive damage of the retina and it is the most common sight complication due to diabetes. Retina is a seven-layered lining at the back of the eye and its role is to sense light coming through the pupil, focused and inverted by the lens and cornea respectively. Diabetic retinopathy may start within twenty years after the onset of diabetes symptoms or the diagnosis of the disease. The complication accompanies both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in nearly 20% of clinical cases. The establishment of diabetic retinopathy increases the likelihood of blindness to occur, up to twenty five times. The very early stage of retina damage is described as background retinopathy and precedes the main state of the condition in 80% of the diabetes cases.
Pathology of diabetic retinopathy.
Retina caries little blood vessels. The latest are delicate and can be damaged quite easily. As it has mentioned already, this damage occurs slowly. Increased blood glucose level and high blood pressure are the main causes for the disease, in a long term.
At the first stages of diabetic retinopathy the tiny blood vessels start to leak fluid into the retina, resulting in blurred vision. Non-proliferate retinopathy is common. This is a mild form of the condition and hardly affects the sight, since retinal damage is limited. Proliferative retinopathy is a more advanced type of the disease. In such cases, new blood vessels develop in the eye. These new vessels are susceptible to bleeding into the vitreous of the eye and may lead to impairment or complete loss of sight and scarred retina. Occasionally, the blood vessels may get clogged and semi-obstructed, not letting adequate amount of blood to come through. Apparently, this causes additional damage. Overtime, retina may get detached from the back side of the eye, causing floating spots or flashing lights.
Symptoms of diabetic retinopathy.
The very early symptom of diabetic retinopathy is poor night vision followed, at a later stage, by blurry or double vision, floating or flushing spots, pain or pressure in one or both eyes and if untreated, by blindness. Whenever a vessel leakage or clotted blood prevents the light to reach the retina, there is a sensation of a curtain been partly pulled in front of the eye.
In many cases of diabetic retinopathy, the eyes are not affected equally. In fact, at early stages impaired sight may not occur and retinopathy can remain unnoticed until severe symptoms appear. Thus, it is strongly recommended for diabetics to have a yearly dilated eye exam, even if the slightest vision problem has not appeared or been identified yet.
Treatment of diabetic retinopathy.
Retinopathy occurs in nearly 90% of diabetes cases on a long term basis. If the condition remains untreated, it can lead to glaucoma or blindness. In fact, the disease is the main cause of lost vision in the USA. Considering the damage in retina is hardly reversible, treatment aims to delay the pathological progress, to control the consequences and minimize the symptoms, if possible.
Efficient management of blood glucose level, blood pressure and cholesterol is essential. Apart from that, laser surgery is the most prominent option. The laser beam can repair leaking blood vessels. A surgical operation called vitrectomy is used, if blood is spread into the vitreous of the eye. Blood is removed and eye fluids are replaced with new ones. Retinal detachment repair may be achieved. In general, post-operative results are very satisfactory. |
