Diabetes  and  the  EYes

Diabetic retinopathy is an eye condition that can cause vision loss and blindness in people who have diabetes. It affects blood vessels in the retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue in the back of your eye).

Right Eye, without Diabetic Retinopathy

Left Eye, without Diabetic Retinopathy

Right Eye, with Diabetic Retinopathy (zoomed in)

If you have diabetes, it’s important to get a comprehensive dilated eye exam at least once a year.  Diabetic retinopathy may not have any symptoms at first — but finding it early can help you take steps to protect your vision. 

At Werner Eyes, we provide comprehensive Diabetic Eye Examinations.  This involves dilating the pupils to get the best look at the retina.  We perform retinal photography to photo-document our findings and compare over time, allowing us to show you exactly what we are looking at.  We also have ultrasound technology to scan your macula (the center of the retina, also called the focal point of the eye) to look for any edema (swelling) beneath that would be otherwise difficult to detect. 

Ultrasound of the Macula, separated and coded by layers (healthy example)

Vision is often not affected early on in diabetes, but prevention is the best medicine and it can be difficult to restore vision if diabetes in the eye goes unchecked for a long time.  Call our office if you have any other questions or would like to schedule your diabetic eye exam.