What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a condition that leads to inadequate control of blood sugar (glucose). In normal persons, blood sugar is tightly regulated by a hormone secreted by the pancreas called insulin. Diabetes mellitus (also called just diabetes) occurs when the level of sugar in blood becomes higher than normal. There are two major types of diabetes
- Type 1 diabetes that occurs due to a condition that leads to lack of insulin production in the body. This usually begins in children or adolescents or in young adults.
- Type 2 diabetes that occurs due to relative deficiency of insulin in the body. This type of diabetes is common among the obese and overweight and is usually seen in the middle aged.
Types of diabetic retinopathy :
Diabetic retinopathy affects different parts of the retina.
- Retinopathy can affect the macula. This leads to more severe vision loss
- Retinopathy may also affect peripheral parts of the retina leading to loss of peripheral vision.
- Stage 1 – Background retinopathy – this affects almost whole of the retina. There may be microaneurysms, leaks and exudates in various parts of the retina
- Stage 2 – Pre-proliferative retinopathy – This type of retinopathy shows early signs of blood flow obstruction but there is no evidence of abnormal new blood vessels
- Blurring of vision
- Seeing floaters in the visual field. These are usually exudates or secretions along with cells and blood clots in the vitreous humor that appear in the range of vision
- There may be flashes of light
- There may be reduced night vision
- In severe cases there may be sudden loss of vision.
Broadly retinopathy may also be classified according to stages as
Symptoms :
Early diabetic retinopathy seldom causes any symptoms. As the condition progresses there may loss of vision. Over time the condition worsens and leads to blindness. Diabetic retinopathy is the most common cause of blindness in people of the working age group worldwide especially in developing and developed nations. Some of the symptoms include –