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Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness

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Anyone with diabetes is at risk for vision loss or blindness caused by diabetic eye diseases. The best way to detect early signs of diabetic eye disease is an annual comprehensive eye exam. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle lowers your risks of diabetic eye disease as well as other complications due to diabetes.

How diabetes can affect your eyes:

  • Cataract: Clouding of the lens of the eye
  • Diabetic macular edema: fluids build up on the retina and cause swelling
  • Diabetic retinopathy: damage to the blood vessels in the retina
  • Glaucoma: increases the fluid pressure inside your eye and leads to optic nerve damage and loss of vision

Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic eye disease because the longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to get diabetic retinopathy. The great news is that diabetic retinopathy can be treated to reduce the risk of blindness by 90% when detected early.

To prevent eye damage from diabetes, maintain good control of your blood sugar, eat healthy, exercise regularly, and get annual eye exams. Read more at https://www.aao.org/eye-health/diseases/diabetic-eye-disease