Do you suffer from diabetes? From scheduling regular diabetic retinal examinations to quitting smoking, here are some simple tips on how to prevent diabetic eye disease.
Diabetic retinopathy is a common cause of vision loss in patients with diabetes, affecting approximately 2 million Canadians. The condition is caused by damage or change to the retinal blood vessels which occurs due to uncontrolled sugar levels.
While in most cases, the condition does not present with any symptoms at its early stages, some signs that you may require a diabetic retinal exam include:
- Blurred vision
- Impairment of colour vision
- Poor night vision
- Floaters (transparent or colourless spots that float in your field of vision)
- Sudden and total loss of vision
Prevent Vision Loss With Regular Diabetic Retinal Examinations
At our eye clinic in Market Mall, our team of qualified and professional optometrists are passionate about eye health and offer comprehensive and affordable diabetic retinal exams to protect the quality of your vision and prevent any loss of sight.
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Five Simple Tips For Preventing Diabetic Eye Disease
While the most important step you can take in preventing diabetic eye disease is scheduling regular diabetic retinal exams with your local optometrist, there are some simple tips and lifestyle changes you can make to preserve the health of your eyes and the clarity of your vision.
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Get a Comprehensive Dilated Eye Exam At Least Once a Year
In the early stages, diabetic eye disease often presents no symptoms. Therefore, a dilated eye exam once a year is crucial as it will allow your optometrist to examine your retina and optic nerve for any signs of damage before you notice any change in your vision.
Why regular diabetic retinal exams are so important: Regularly monitoring the health of your eyes will allow your optometrist to catch the condition early, and begin treatment as soon as possible to minimize the impact of the disease.
DIABETES & EYES: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Control Your Blood Sugar Levels
High or low blood sugar levels can cause the lens of your eye to swell, affecting its shape and causing blurry vision. This often returns back to normal after your blood sugar stabilizes.
Uncontrolled blood sugar levels can lead to both short term and long term eye problems including:
- Short-term blurriness is caused by high or low blood sugar levels. It is temporary and will resolve once your blood sugar level returns to normal.
- Long term eye problems stem from high blood sugar levels over the course of many years. Uncontrolled blood sugar levels will cause damage to the blood vessels of your eyes, causing vision loss that is permanent.
Tip: Maintaining good control of your blood sugar levels is absolutely critical in helping prevent these problems.
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Maintain Healthy Blood Pressure
Along with causing heart and kidney problems, untreated high blood pressure can also affect your vision, by causing damage to the blood vessels in your retina. This condition doesn’t present with symptoms in early stages, but during an eye exam, your optometrist can check for warning signs.
Some symptoms are:
- Narrowing of blood vessels
- Swelling of the macula and optic nerve
- Bleeding in the back of the eye
- Spots on the retina
If hypertension is not treated, it can cause serious and irreversible damage to your vision and eye health, so you should always take your blood pressure medication as prescribed and visit your optometrist for yearly check ups.
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Quit Smoking
There are many factors that may increase your risk for diabetic retinopathy and other diabetes-related eye diseases, but one of the major ones is smoking. Giving up tobacco will help significantly reduce your risk of vision loss.
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Exercise More
It is extremely important for people with diabetes to exercise. Regular exercise helps to control your blood sugar levels and blood pressure, as well as maintain good circulation throughout the body. Being active is a key part in preventing diabetic retinopathy and any resultant vision loss.
Our Calgary Optometrists Help Protect Your Eyesight
If you suffer from diabetes, it’s important to be proactive when it comes to your eye health. With services including dilated eye exams and diabetic retinopathy, our optometrists can help preserve the clarity of your vision. To find out more, contact our Calgary eye clinic at 403-286-4884 or book an eye exam today.
