How Diabetes Can Affect Your Vision Over Time

  • By:Dr. Katie Dugan

When you have diabetes, the blood sugar fluctuations can have a domino effect on many aspects of your overall health. Uncontrolled blood sugar can even affect your eyes and damage your vision over time.

The truth is that controlling diabetes is critical to protect yourself in many ways. Not only do you need to work closely with your primary doctor, but it’s just as important to schedule regular eye exams so that our expert team can assist with early detection and treatment.

How Diabetes Impacts Your Eye Health

When blood sugar is high, it can cause damage to the tiny blood vessels in the retina. This damage leads to a variety of complications, including swelling, leaking, and even abnormal blood vessel growth within the eye. There are different types of diabetic eye diseases that can cause complications for patients with diabetes:

  • Diabetic retinopathy
  • Diabetic macular edema
  • Cataracts
  • Glaucoma

Even though some of these eye conditions can impact non-diabetic patients, the risk increases significantly for people who have uncontrolled diabetes. For example, cataracts tend to occur earlier and have a faster progression in patients with diabetes.

Warning Signs to Watch For (And When to Visit an Eye Doctor)

If you have been diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes, then watch out for these potential warning signs of diabetic eye disease:

  • Blurry vision
  • Fluctuating vision
  • Floaters or dark spots
  • Blind spots
  • Sudden vision loss
  • Difficulty seeing at night

Certain eye conditions have no symptoms in the early stage, which means that the disease has progressed significantly by the time the symptoms appear. So, it’s essential that you visit an eye doctor regularly for routine checkups and examinations.

How to Protect Your Vision

Just because you have been diagnosed with diabetes, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will experience vision loss. There are several things that you can do to protect your eyes:

  • Follow the doctor’s orders to keep your blood sugar low and balanced
  • Always have annual comprehensive eye exams
  • Wear sunglasses when you are outside

Prevention and early treatment are the keys to preserving your vision and minimizing the risk of more severe complications.

Call to Schedule Your Eye Exam

Our team has experience working with diabetic patients, and we offer full-service solutions to protect your vision whenever possible. We encourage you to maintain consistency with your eye exams, because these appointments allow us to identify diabetic eye disease in the earliest stages. Then, you can begin treatments as soon as possible.

Reach out any time if you have questions about available eye care services. Contact our team at Temecula Creek Optometry to book your appointment: (951) 302 -1331.

Posted in: Eye Health