This is something I’ve always been vaguely curious about, but right now it’s particularly relevant. A good friend of mine suffers from the more severe form of diabetes (Type I?) and it looks like he will have to undergo laser surgery to prevent damage to his eyesight as a result. His wife said something about cauterizing blood vessels in his eyes.
My questions are:[ul]
[li]Why is one of the possible complications of diabetes blindness? [/li][li]What exactly is happening in his eyes?[/li][li]How does this relate to blood sugar levels? [/li][li]What is this surgery he’ll be undergoing?[/li][li]How will it help?[/ul][/li] Qadgop, I hope you’re reading, but I’d appreciate the help of anyone else who knows about this.
bryan provides a pretty good reference source there, cj so I don’t have a lot to add. Laser surgery is a wonderful thing, and has saved the vision of many diabetics. I’ve had it myself.
If the retinopathy doesn’t get them, don’t diabetics also suffer from increased cloudiness of the lens, e.g. cataracts, brought on by the glycation of lens crystallin in the presence of excess blood sugar ?
I’m not sure of all the medical details, but when my wife was diagnosed with type II (adult onset) diabetes she was told to have regular eye exams specifically to check for diabetic retinopathy. A few years later she started requiring regular laser treatments to seal leaking blood vessels. Then she developed cataracts; the standard corrective surgery was deferred several times due to the required laser treatments for the retinopathy. The initial cataract surgery went well, but after the second eye surgery she developed proliferative diabetic retinopathy and is now legally blind. Her ophthamologist says that her condition is stable and that her eyesight isn’t getting any worse, but my wife isn’t so sure.
I suspect that part of my wife’s difficulties were caused by poor blood sugar control (she was only on oral medication and diet restrictions), so this probably won’t happen to your friend. When she first started having the laser treatments the doctor didn’t seem too concerned over possible loss of eyesight; it wasn’t until the cataract complications set it that she started having serious vision problems.
Lots of people have their Diabetes “discovered” during a regular eye check-up. Blood vessels are put under pressure when blood glucose levels are uncontrolled. If you have Diabetes but dont know, then of course it’s not being treated appropriately, thats when blood vessels begin to leak behind the eyes. Laser treatment is used to cauterise the blood vessels involved. Uncontrolled Diabetes, whether it’s Type 1 (Insulin dependant) or Type 2 (Diet and/or oral medication controlled) are equally as serious, NO ONE has “just a touch of Diabetes”, you either have it or you don’t. It’s not the Diabetes that kills us, it’s the complications (heart disease, eye disease, Kidney failure, vascular disease and Gangrene, Neuropathy) that cause problems
and can often lead to death. If you take advantage of all the education/Support groups and Health teams and what you can learn from them, this will assist in maintaining good control, which leads to fewer complications. By the way, here in NZ, and I should think around the world, it’s done @ an Out patients appointment. You don’t have to be hospitalised and although it’s not pleasant, it only takes a short time and the benefits outweigh the results of what could happen if you declined to procede with the treatment. I HATE having it, others I know from my Support group say it doesn’t worry them in the slightest, so I guess it’s a personal thing. Good luck to your friend!!!
Just a note to Bronze’s post – my optometrist has been checking the back blood vessels of my eyes for signs of diabetes for the last couple of regular visits now. A weird feeling, but at least I know I’m clear (as at the last exam).
Diabetes causes retinopathy, which is a microangiopathy or disease of small blood vessels. The most delicate and affected small blood vessels are also diseased in the kidneys and skin.
Macroangiopathy is disease of the big vessels, most occuring in the lower extremities.
