Diabetes Can Result in Vision Problems

When you have diabetes, your risk for developing vision problems is high. You can have things occur such as eye infections that can impact your ability to see. But you’re also at risk for more serious problems.

You can develop eye conditions that can cause damages to your eyes. This is one reason why your doctor as well as diabetes organizations recommend seeing your ophthalmologist for an in-depth eye exam on a regular basis.

That includes right upon your diagnosis so that he or she can track changes in your vision over time. Many problems, if caught early enough, can have much less of an impact on your vision.

Some people with diabetes think that vision problems are something that happens to elderly people who have the condition. But you can develop vision related problems caused by diabetes as early as in your 20s.

There are some vision problems caused by diabetes that are temporary and easy to fix. They are a warning sign, however, that your glucose levels are not being controlled. If you’ve noticed that your vision is blurry, it can be easy to assume that your vision has simply changed if you wear corrective contact lenses or glasses.

But blurry vision is a sign that your glucose levels need immediate attention. If you notice that you’ve been having blurry vision, you need to go get checked to rule out any other eye problems other than elevated glucose.

Glaucoma is common in people who have diabetes. One of the reasons that’s behind the development of this condition is high eye pressure. It’s caused because the fluid in your eye is putting pressure on the nerves.

There are some well-known symptoms of glaucoma. These include pain or a feeling of pressure behind one or both eyes. You can have higher pressure in one eye than in the other.

Your vision may be blurry. This can be a result of diabetes damaging the nerves in the eye. You may also notice that your eyes are watering frequently. Losing some of your vision is also common.

The high eye pressure caused by glaucoma is treatable with medication. If you get treated, then the symptoms will go away. But you will always have to watch your eye pressure if you have this.

Left untreated, glaucoma does cause blindness. Another vision problem that results from diabetes is cataracts. You might think that having cataracts is a condition that’s more common in older people, but those who have diabetes are more likely to develop cataracts earlier in life.

A cataract dims your vision. You may notice that colors aren’t as bright. When you try to read print material, you may notice that the font isn’t as dark when you look at it straight on.

The condition causes blurry vision. It can also cause problems with glare so that you lose the ability to do things like drive at night. Night vision impairment is one of the symptoms of the condition.

Cataracts can develop slowly over the years, but when people with diabetes get cataracts, the process is faster. You can lose your vision within a matter of several months versus over the years.

The treatment for cataracts is a short, simple eye surgery in which the surgeon will remove your cataract and you’ll be given a new eye lens. Besides high glucose levels being one of the culprits that can cause vision problems, you can also develop damage simply from living with diabetes as you age.

One type of damage often labeled retina damage, is called diabetic retinopathy and it can lead to vision problems. The condition is common for diabetics. It’s caused by glucose levels that are too high, injuring the blood vessels.

Problems with your retina can have more than one cause. If your blood vessels, but not your vision, are impacted by your diabetes then you still have the chance to protect your sight.

You can develop an injury caused by diabetes to the macula part of your eye. If this happens, it causes vision problems. Diabetes is also known to cause retinal detachment.

When the condition first begins to develop, you might not have any symptoms or warning signs at all. Or you might pass off the ones that you do have as no a big deal.

One of the first signs is the development of floaters. You can start to get floaters even as a child, so many people don’t fret when they notice these in the eye or eyes. But with diabetes, what happens is that the floaters get worse as the foundation for retinal detachment begins.

From there, you might start to notice that your visual field appears distorted. What you look at just doesn’t look normal. You can also have wavy or blurry vision. This condition also causes aneurysms in the eye.

Because these aneurysms happen where you can’t see them, you might not be aware at first. As they occur, the blood vessels in the eye start to develop small circle areas that look like little balloons.

If the balloon bursts, it can lead to bleeding in the retina. This condition, if not treated right away, does cause blindness that often can’t be reversed. If you have a retinal detachment, you need emergency care.

While you will not regain the vision that you lost, you can stop more vision loss from happening. If you have good diabetes management, and you make sure you have your eyes checked regularly, your chances of developing diabetic retina damage or other eye damage is less of a risk.

For people who do have diabetes, keeping your glucose levels under control, maintaining a healthy weight and having an active lifestyle can also minimize the risk.

Warning signs that tell you that you need to seek the help of an eye doctor include symptoms such as a sudden infusion of multiple floaters, a burst of light like fireworks going off, consistent eye pain and any sudden changes in your visual acuity.