Diabetes and Your Eyes: Answering the Top 5 Questions

Elevated blood sugar caused by diabetes can lead to vision changes or eye conditions, including:

• Blurred vision
• Cataracts
• Diabetic macular edema
• Diabetic retinopathy
• Dry eyes
• Eye floaters
• Glaucoma

Over time, these conditions can interfere with everyday activities, like driving, reading and recognizing faces. And when left unmanaged, diabetes-related eye disease can lead to permanent vision loss.

Diabetic eye disease is a group of eye conditions that can affect people with diabetes. This may include:

• Cataracts: cloudy eye lenses that can be caused by glucose deposit buildup
• Diabetic macular edema: swelling and fluid buildup in the center part of the retina
• Diabetic retinopathy: damaged blood vessels in the retina that can lead to vision impairment
• Glaucoma: increased eye pressure, fluid buildup and optic nerve damage

Anyone with diabetes — whether it’s Type 1, Type 2 or even gestational diabetes — is at risk for diabetic eye disease. Even people with prediabetes may begin to experience blood vessel damage, which is why early detection and prevention are essential.

Symptoms of diabetic eye disease can vary, but you may experience one or more of the following:

• Blind spots in your vision
• Blurred or fluctuating vision
• Double vision
• Reduced peripheral vision
• Seeing spots or floaters
• Trouble seeing in dim light or at night

Though these symptoms are common, people may not experience any noticeable symptoms at all in the early stages of diabetes-related eye diseases. Whether or not you have any of these symptoms, if you have diabetes, it’s important to maintain a healthy blood sugar level and schedule annual eye examinations.

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in adults, and the longer your condition goes unmanaged, the more severely it may affect your long-term vision.

In many cases, yes, it is possible to prevent diabetes-related eye disease. The best way to prevent damage is to control your blood sugar levels, along with your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Regular physical activity is a great way to help you manage diabetes effectively, as it can improve your whole health, including your blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol.

If you have any type of diabetes, regular eye examinations are especially important so that you can have an up-to-date picture of your eye health. And while it may not be the most convenient, we encourage you not to skip getting your eyes dilated, as it can help your eye doctor spot any problems early.

Not smoking also lowers your risk for diabetes-related eye disease, so quitting is a great way to improve your health.

Talk to your doctor about your target blood sugar range. Maintaining blood sugar levels within that range is a great first step. The American Diabetes Association recommends that most people with diabetes aim for an A1C lower than 7%. However, it’s important to work closely with your doctor and regularly test your blood sugar levels at home as well to maintain a clearer picture of your unique health.