5 ways Diabetes Can Affect Eye Health

5 ways Diabetes Can Affect Eye Health – Diabetes can cause blurry vision, which is easily treatable but sometimes leads to more serious problems like cataracts and glaucoma.

Here are 5 ways Diabetes Can Affect Eye Health:

1- Blurry vision

If you are experiencing some blurry vision in your eyes, beware that it can be a sign of diabetes. The reason for this is that in diabetes, the lens of the eyes can swell due to fluid leakage, causing vision to become blurry. It is not a serious disorder, as an abnormal blood sugar level is the reason behind it, and managing the sugar levels to normal will make vision clear.

2- Diabetic retinopathy

In diabetic retinopathy, our eye’s retina (which is sensitive to light) is damaged due to high blood glucose levels. This lens gets swollen from the leaked fluids, which cause the vision to temporarily become blurry, but long-term swelling will lead to diabetic retinopathy. If this condition persists for a long time, it can cause blindness.

3- Cataracts

It can be found in people of old age, but diabetes can speed up the process, and you can get cataracts at an earlier age. In this, the eyes get cloudy. Diabetes is not the only cause; old age, hypertension, and obesity can also lead to cataracts.

4- Glaucoma

In this, the optic nerves of the eye get damaged due to high pressure on the eye. A non-diabetic person can be affected by glaucoma, but with a high blood sugar level for a longer period of time, the optic nerves have more chances to get damaged. It has very subtle symptoms, and vision loss is so slow that it becomes difficult to detect. It has other risk factors like a family history of disease and being over the age of 60.

5- Macular edema

Macular is the part of the retina we use for seeing faces and reading. When the macular gets swollen, our eyes lose their normal sharpness of vision. This can also lead to blindness. One of the symptoms of macular edema is that our vision changes colour.

Ways to prevent and deter these eye diseases:

• Keep blood glucose levels in normal ranges; long term high blood glucose can lead to eye diseases.
• Stop smoking; people who smoke are more prone to it.
• Eye examination, Get your eyes checked at least once a year because detecting them early can lead to better treatment.

Bottom Line:

Diabetes can lead to serious eye diseases like diabetes retinopathy, cataracts, glaucoma, and macular edema. Detecting these disorders as early as possible can lead to better medical treatment, and controlling blood glucose levels within normal ranges is key.

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