Sight save B Y
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“Eye changes in diabetics can occur quickly. Eyes can be normal one year and severely damaged the next.” For a growing number of Americans diagnosed with diabetes, a simple hour-long test can help ensure that they not only experience life’s most touching moments, but witness the wonder and beauty of them, too. Whether it’s seeing the joy on a daughter’s face as she floats down the aisle to take her wedding vows, or the wobbly determination of a baby taking his first steps, this test — a complete dilated eye exam — can make a significant difference in a diabetic’s quality of life. That’s because diabetes can damage the blood vessels in the eyes, resulting in diabetic retinopathy — a disease that can cause vision loss or even blindness. It occurs when the retina becomes damaged by leaking or obstructed blood vessels. There are four stages of diabetic retinopathy, ranging from mild nonproliferative retinopathy, where microaneurysms — small areas of balloon-like swelling in the retina’s blood vessels — develop, to proliferative retinopathy, its most advanced stage. In most cases, there are no symptoms in the early stages of the disease. By the time warning signs appear, the disease may be well under way. The longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are
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to develop diabetic retinopathy. Further, between 40 to 45 percent of Americans diagnosed with diabetes have some stage of the disease. “Eye changes (in diabetics) can occur quickly,” says Dr. Tien Wong, an ophthalmologist at The Methodist Hospital. “Eyes can be normal one year and severely damaged the next.” Fortunately, new drug treatments currently in clinical trials at Methodist and the Cullen Eye Institute at Baylor College of Medicine may decrease the need for laser surgery, now the standard of care for treating the disease. New treatments are needed because diabetic retinopathy — the most common diabetic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness in American adults — will likely rise as Baby Boomers age and, increasingly, succumb to diabetes. In fact, ophthalmologists expect a 65 percent increase in the disease by 2020.
Increasing Awareness Diabetic retinopathy is one of five age-related eye diseases that have spurred the launch of an awareness campaign — “EyeSmart”— sponsored by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
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