The media’s focus on the risk of COVID-19 among seniors and people with diabetes has resulted in many delaying their eye care visits.

Most eye care services are critical to preserve, prevent loss of, or restore vision. This includes ongoing care for degenerative eye conditions such as glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, etc.

Photo by Soroush Karimi on Unsplash

Unfortunately, many eye diseases progress silently or seem tolerable now but can quickly progress into irreversible damage or emergencies if in-person visit are postponed again and again.

To identify these conditions and preserve vision, healthcare providers need to measure the pressure of the eye and get an effective look inside. The only way to do that is with in person visits.

Equipment for patients to allow assessments of the interior eye structure, vision strength, the cornea and the pressure with the eye is not available remotely.

Another important reason not to put off your vision care is that new waves of coronavirus seems inevitable. If numbers continue to spike, ophthalmology services may have to pause again.

Talk to your healthcare providers about how to balance your risks. Don’t regret experiencing vision loss because of unnecesary fears.

We’re talking about diabetic macular edema with musical inspiration from Maxwell on this episode of Divabetic’s Diabetes Late Nite podcast.

Diabetic Macular Edema (DME) is an accumulation of fluid in the macula-part of the retina that controls our most detailed vision abilities-due to leaking blood vessels. In order to develop DME, you must first have diabetic retinopathy.

Diabetic retinopathy is caused by damage to the blood vessels in the tissue at the back of the eye (retina). Poorly controlled blood sugar is a risk factor. Early symptoms include floaters, blurriness, dark areas of vision, and difficulty perceiving colors. Blindness can occur.

Guests include singer Alfa Anderson, Diabetic Macular Edema patient Maryanne Kass, Artist Bryce Chisholm, the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Poet Lorraine Brooks and Mama Rose Marie. Throughout the podcast we will be featuring selected songs from several of several of Maxwell’s albums courtesy of SONY Music.