What is Retinopathy?
Retinopathy describes any damage the retina of the eyes endures, often causing impairment of vision, and usually refers to retinal vascular disease or damage to the retina caused by abnormal blood flow. Technically included under the “umbrella term” of retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration is usually mentioned as a separate entity; the word itself can be broadly categorized into proliferative and non-proliferative types.
Important to note when discussing this affliction is that it’s often related to diabetic patients or those people suffering from hypertension – in fact, diabetes has been recognized as the most common cause of it in the U.S. since 2008, with diabetic retinal disease the leading cause of blindness in the working-age population and accounting for about five-percent of blindness worldwide. The situation is so serious with this condition that the World Health Organization has designated it a “priority eye disease.”
Why Rowan Eye Center Stresses Diabetic Eye Care
We all love sugar – from soft drinks to ice cream cones and from birthday cakes to those boxes of cookies we can’t stop eating while watching our favorite shows. But it’s just an unfortunate fact that sugar is sheer poison for our bodies; at worst, complications lead to diabetes, which is when we have no choice but to watch (or eliminate) our sugar intake. Unbeknownst to many, diabetes can harm the eyes, to the point that some severe diabetics who abuse their condition by not taking insulin injections or continuing to consume massive amounts of sugar end up going blind. What happens is the small blood vessels in the retina, at the back part of the eye, are damaged, thus leading to diabetic retinal disease. Diabetes also increases the risk of glaucoma, cataracts and other eye problems.
The approach we stress here at Rowan Eye Center is to have regular eye exams. We specialize in taking care of diabetics through a comprehensive exam that includes:
• Dilating of the eyes to enable a good view of the entire retina; only an eye doctor can perform this kind of exam.
• Special photographs, if needed, of the retina that may replace the dilated eye exam; this is known as digital retinal photography.
Signs and Symptoms
Interestingly (and perhaps alarmingly), many people do not exhibit retinal vascular disease symptoms until it’s very late in the disease’s course. What’s most concerning about this fact is that patients often show symptoms when there’s already irreversible damage, and these symptoms, while normally not painful, can include:
• Vitreous hemorrhage
• “Floaters,” or small objects that drift through the field of vision
• Decreased visual acuity
• A “falling curtain” effect over eyes
Other Causes
Rare causes of certain forms of retinal vascular disease involve genetic mutations and are usually “x-linked,” such as the NDP family of genes causing Norrie Disease, FEVR and Coats disease, among others. Rowan Eye Center physicians have studied emerging evidence that there may be a genetic predisposition in patients who develop retinal issues of prematurity and diabetic types.
Still, the most common cause remains diabetic complications, affecting approximately five million people each year worldwide. There is some evidence that “hypersensitive” retinal problems can be considered the next most common cause, affecting anywhere from three to 14-percent of all non-diabetic adults.
Treatment
Of course, any diagnosis of a problem in the human body would be virtually worthless without a treatment response, and in this case that response comes primarily in the form of laser therapy to the retina. Laser photocoagulation therapy has been the standard treatment for many types of diabetic vision problems, with evidence proving that such laser therapy is generally safe and improves visual symptoms in sickle cell and diabetic retinal malfunction.
Recently, a procedure targeting the pathway controlling vessel growth, or angiogenesis, has shown promise in this area, while vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is believed to play a vital role in promoting neovascularization.
Other treatment options include:
• Anti-VEGF Therapy – This approach involves the injection of medication into the back of the eye; the medication works as an antibody to bind and remove the excess VEGF present in the eye causing the diseased state.
• Intraocular Steroid Injection – As a treatment for diabetic macular edema, this therapy helps reduce the amount of fluid leaking into the retina, yielding improvement in vision.
• Vitrectomy – Sometimes recommended in advanced stages of proliferative diabetic retinal disease, this microsurgical procedure is performed in an operating room and details removal of the blood-filled vitreous, which is replaced with a clear solution.
The Bottom Line
People with untreated diabetes are 25 times more at risk for blindness than the general population. Let that sink in for a moment…
The longer a person suffers with diabetes, the higher the risk of developing diabetic eye problems. But, fortunately, with regular proper eye care and treatment when necessary from a respected clinic such as Rowan Eye Center, the incidence of severe vision loss can be greatly reduced.
If you are a diabetic and have been experiencing vision problems, contact Rowan Eye Center today to schedule an appointment with one of our vision experts.