Aside from diabetic retinopathy as a serious and dangerous eye problem that affects the retina, there are two other dangerous eye impairments that are very common in poor treated diabetes which is a cataract that affects the eye lens and glaucoma which affects the optic nerve.
A cataract occurs when the clear crystalline eye lens becomes cloudy or foggy. The degree of cloudiness may vary from slight to extreme and complete opacity of the lens.
This consequently will obstruct light passage into the inner side of the eyeball that leads to myopia or short sightedness. The gradual opacification and yellowing of the lens may alter the perception of the blue colors that becomes greenish.
Cataracts develop very slowly towards vision loss which conveys the potency of blindness if it is kept untreated and neglected. Cataract generally affect both eyes and mostly one of the eye first then followed by the other one.
Although anyone can get cataracts, people with diabetes get these eye problems at an earlier age than other people. The condition progresses more rapidly than in people without diabetes.
The major symptom of an eye cataract in diabetes is blurred or glared vision.
Treatment usually involves surgery to place a lens implant, and then followed with the use of glasses or contact lenses as needed for further correction of the vision.
Glaucomais the damage of the optic nerve that involves the loss of retinal ganglion cells that may further lead to irreversible blindness. It is usually related to the increased fluid pressure inside the eyeball (known as the intraocular pressure).
The intraocular pressure increase is an important risk factor for developing glaucoma. The development of the nerve damage may differ from one to another person. One could be affected at low pressure, while another person may experience high intraocular pressure for a long time without any damage of the optic nerve. Untreated and neglected glaucoma may progress to irreversible damage of the optic nerve which can develop into permanent blindness.
The most common form of glaucoma is the open angle category which is symptomless, hence also known as the "silent thief of sight." The condition tends to progress at a very slow pace where the patient is not able to notice his or her loss of vision until the disease is very advanced with significant vision loss.
In the less common form of glaucoma or close angle category, symptoms can appear in a sudden and is usually very painful. Loss of vision progresses very fast which leads the patient to seek for a medical profession before the condition becomes more serious. The common symptoms include headaches, blurred vision, eye aches or pain, halos around lights, watery eyes, and vision loss.
Treatment of glaucoma in diabetic patients can involve special eye drops to laser procedures, as well as the use of medicine or surgery. Cataract can be prevented by conducting an annual glaucoma screening as suggested by your ophthalmologist.
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