5 Ways Diabetes Can Affect Your Eyes and Vision

Diabetes occurs when the body cannot use insulin efficiently or produce the required insulin levels. Insulin breaks down sugar molecules for delivery to different parts of the body. Insufficient insulin levels in your body can lead to high blood sugar levels. Diabetes can affect multiple organs in your body, including your eyes. If left unaddressed, it can lead to conditions like cataracts, glaucoma, and even vision loss. 

What Is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a medical condition characterized by abnormally high blood glucose levels. A pancreatic hormone called insulin helps your cells obtain energy from the glucose you consume. Diabetes occurs when your body cannot adequately respond to or create insulin, leading to excess blood sugar. 

Some of the ways diabetes can affect your eyes and vision include:

Blurred Vision

If your vision gets a little blurry, you do not need to buy new eyeglasses immediately. However, it would help to schedule an appointment with your optometrist. An optometrist will help you determine the cause of the problem and rule out the possibility of a severe condition. 

Diabetes-related high blood pressure can cause blurry vision. It can cause your lens to swell, affecting your ability to see the finer details of things in your field of vision. You can have blurred vision in one eye or both eyes. 

A vision problem does not always warrant the need for glasses if you have diabetes. Sometimes, bringing your blood sugar levels back to normal will fix the problem. It could lead to more severe issues if you have blurred vision and leave it untreated. 

Diabetic Retinopathy

High blood pressure can affect your retinal vessels, leading to diabetic retinopathy. People with type 1 diabetes are more likely to develop the eye condition. Early detection is the best way to treat it and minimize the risk of blindness. Controlling your cholesterol, sugar intake, and blood pressure are other effective ways of treating diabetic retinopathy. 

Cataracts

The lens allows the eye to see and focus on images. When the lens starts to get cloudy or foggy, like a smudged or dirty window, that might mean a cataract is forming. When part of your eye’s lens is cloudy, it cannot focus as it should, so you will not see. 

People with diabetes are more prone to developing cataracts early in life, and cataracts tend to worsen faster. Cataracts cause a fogging or clouding of the eye’s lens, preventing light from entering the eye. That results in glares and blurred vision. 

Glaucoma

Glaucoma refers to various diseases affecting the optic nerve, a collection of nerves connecting the eye to the brain. When glucose builds up in your eye, it can create pressure, preventing the fluid in your eye from draining as it should. Glaucoma can lead to blindness if not treated. 

Diabetic Macular Edema

Diabetes can cause the macula to swell, leading to a buildup of fluid, which can affect your eyesight. Untreated DME can cause eye pressure to increase, leading to the leakage of eye fluid. 

Conclusion

You must monitor your eye health if you have diabetes. It affects the way the body processes food for growth and energy. With all forms of diabetes, the body has trouble processing and converting sugar into energy. That results in various health problems.

For more on eye and vision health, visit Tri-City Optometry at our office in Fremont, CA. Call (510) 602-2020 to schedule an appointment today.