Diabetic retinopathy

This is a condition which has been attributed to be the most common causes for blindness among people in UK. The name retinopathy means damage to the small blood vessels which are responsible for the nourishment of the retina. It is the small tissue on the back of the eye which deals with light and responsible for creating an image on the eye from the light coming in. As the damage happens, it can also lead to blood leakage and extend up to the jelly filling the eye cavity. This condition has been seen to affect the vision of the patient quite badly and can in cases lead to loss of vision. The condition is the biggest outcome of diabetes and lead to serious outcomes. The diabetic retinopathy has been classified into three types, namely background retinopathy, Pre-proliferative retinopathy, proliferative retinopathy. The background type is the one which is least harmful. The pre-proliferative type would affect to larger extent and happens when the retina leaks and leaks blood. The proliferative type is the one which is hard to diagnose and the symptoms only start to show up when it gets too late.

Symptoms

The condition definitely is painless and does not create an immediate effect on the life, but can in some cases, lead to sudden loss of vision. The newly born blood vessels are fragile in nature and they can bleed very easily, which can start obscuring the vision. The other common symptoms of diabetic retinopathy would have tiny dots in the vision, dark streaks blocking the vision, blurring in sight, reduced vision at night times and also problems in adjusting to the bright or dim lights.

Causes

The major cause for this condition is diabetes. One stands a higher chance of developing this condition if not taken proper treatment of diabetes. The chances of diabetic retinopathy increase in case one is suffering from high blood sugar levels, being diabetic for a long time, higher cholesterol levels, high numbers on blood pressure, or higher protein levels in urine and also in case the patient is pregnant.

Diagnosis

There are national screening programs started up for screening these conditions and the persons, above 11 years of age and confirmed of diabetes are provided screening on an annual basis. The screening will make sure that eyes are checked for the retina and then the photographs of retina are used to find the actual condition of the patient. The blurring caused due to usage of drops during the screening would affect the vision for some 15 minutes.

Treatment

The treatment would largely depend on the type of condition from background, pre-proliferative or proliferative types of retinopathy one is suffering from. One may need to get laser treatment done from a laser treatment clinic and also available on out-patient basis. The laser treatment would normally help almost 90% of the cases from losing their sight and in only rare cases would an eye surgery be needed to be done. That too is the case of proliferative condition where it’s too late to take other measures.