Diabetes Mellitus (DM) can cause a multitude of ocular complications including fluctuating or blurred vision and fluctuating refractive errors. Diabetes Mellitus affects blood vessels in the body and there are a lot of small blood vessels in the eye. In fact, the retina of the eye is the only place in the whole body where we can see and visualize blood vessels. During your annual dilated eye exam your eye doctor is able to see your retina to make sure there are no complications from systemic diseases like DM. DM can cause Diabetic Retinopathy in the eye and can consist of damage to blood vessels where they can leak fluid or blood. It can also cause swelling in the back of the eye that can lead to blurry vision.
The CDC estimates that every 24 hours, 55 people with diabetes become blind.
DM is a growing epidemic, making early detection and timely treatment critical to preventing vision loss.
Diabetic Retinopathy
Patients with diabetes are 40% more likely to develop glaucoma and 60% more likely to develop cataracts than patients who don’t have the disease, according to the American Diabetic Association (ADA).
The incidence of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in the U.S. is rising at an alarming rate. More than 29 million Americans have diabetes, according to recent CDC figures, and one in four individuals (25%) don’t even know they have it.
What’s more, another 86 million with pre-diabetes are headed down the road to diabetes without intervention, and the NEI projects diabetic retinopathy (DR) to climb to 11 million by 2030.