The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic enjoys making learning about diabetes fun and entertaining!
Test your Diabetes IQ with our weekly wow challenge questions. This week we’re talking about eye care and diabetes.
Did you know that a common complication of diabetes is diabetic eye disease? Diabetic eye disease refers to a group of sight-threatening eye problems that people with diabetes may develop.
Glaucoma is one of these diseases.
People with diabetes are twice as likely to develop glaucoma as are non-diabetics, although some current research is beginning to call this into question. Similarly, the likelihood of someone with open-angle glaucoma developing diabetes is higher than that of a person without the eye disease.
Neovascular glaucoma, a rare type of glaucoma, is always associated with other abnormalities, diabetes being the most common. In some cases of diabetic retinopathy, blood vessels on the retina are damaged. The retina manufactures new, abnormal blood vessels.
Neovascular glaucoma can occur if these new blood vessels grow on the iris (the colored part of the eye), closing off the fluid flow in the eye and raising the eye pressure. Neovascular glaucoma is a difficult disease to treat. One option is laser surgery to reduce abnormal blood vessels on the iris and on the retinal surface. Recent studies have also shown some success with the use of drainage implants.
Since eye complications are common with diabetes, it is very important that people with diabetes get their eyes examined on a regular basis. The National Eye Institute recommends that people with diabetes get a dilated eye exam at least once a year.
ANSWER: True. The early stages of open-angle glaucoma, the most common form, usually have no warning signs. However, as the disease progresses, a person with glaucoma may notice his or her side vision gradually failing
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