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Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is a common complication of diabetes that causes damage to the eyes. Treatment aims to slow or stop the condition’s progression.

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What is diabetic retinopathy?

Diabetes is a long-term condition that damages blood vessels all over the body. Over time, it can damage your retina – the part of your eye that detects light and sends signals to your brain through the optic nerve.

Diabetic retinopathy happens when the blood vessels in your retina are damaged as a result of diabetes. The damage to your eyes starts when sugar blocks the tiny blood vessels that go to your retina, causing them to leak fluid or bleed. To make up for these blocked blood vessels, your eyes then grow new blood vessels that don’t work well.

A further complication called diabetic macular oedema (DMO) can develop in people with diabetic retinopathy. Here, the damaged blood vessels leak fluid and cause swelling of the macula, the area of the retina that is responsible for detailed central vision.

Retinopathy affects people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The longer you’ve had diabetes, the more likely you are to develop retinopathy, especially if your blood sugar levels have persistently been higher than they should ideally be.

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What are the symptoms of diabetic retinopathy?

At first, diabetic retinopathy might cause no symptoms or only mild vision problems. As the condition progresses, you may experience:

  • gradually worsening vision
  • sudden vision loss
  • shapes floating in your field of vision (floaters)
  • blurred or patchy vision
  • eye pain or redness

The earlier we detect diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema, the better. That’s why it’s so important that people with diabetes have an annual eye check.

How do you treat diabetic retinopathy?

Treatment aims to slow or stop the progression of diabetic retinopathy. There are a few treatment options depending on the type and severity of your diabetic retinopathy or diabetic macular oedema.

Treatment options include:

Intra-vitreal injections
  • We numb your eye and then inject medications into the vitreous of the eye. These injections will need to be repeated over a number of visits. The number of visits and the length between each visit will be determined by your doctor based on your individual need.
  • These medications (vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors) help stop the growth of new blood vessels and decrease fluid build up.
  • Injections can cause mild discomfort such as a sense of burning, tearing or pain for about 24 hours. Side effects can include a build up of pressure in the eye and infection.
Photocoagulation
  • Also known as focal laser treatment, this uses laser burns to treat leaks from abnormal blood vessels.
  • This is done in the doctor's room at Horizon Surgical Eye Centre usually requiring a single session.
  • If you have already developed blurred vision from diabetic macular oedema, then treatment may not return your vision to normal but should reduce the chance of it worsening.
Panretinal photocoagulation
  • The areas of the retina away from the macula are treated with scattered laser burns to shrink and scar the abnormal blood vessels.
  • This is done in the doctor's room at Horizon Surgical Eye Centre and usually requires two or more sessions.
  • Your vision will be blurry for about a day afterwards.
  • Some loss of peripheral or night vision is possible after this procedure.

Vitrectomy

  • We make a tiny incision in your eye to remove blood from the middle of the eye (vitreous) as well as scar tissue that's tugging on the retina.
  • This is usually done in hospital using local or general anesthesia.

While these treatments can often slow or stop the progression of diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema, they do not cure the condition. Because diabetes is a lifelong condition, future retinal damage and vision loss are still possible. It’s important to work closely with your diabetes doctors, nurse educators and your eye specialist to manage your diabetes as well as possible.

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All information is general and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Horizon Surgical Eye Centre can consult with you to confirm if this treatment is right for you.