As many of our patients know, diabetes is one of the most concerning conditions for your eye health. Also known as the “silent disease”, diabetes can impact your overall and eye health without you noticing for a long time. November is American Diabetes Month making it the perfect time to look at diabetes’ effect on your vision and what you can do about it.

Diabetes can cause the blood vessels in the back of your eye to weaken over time. If these vessels become weak enough, fluid can leak out. This leakage can lead to swelling in your retina, bleeding into your eye, scarring, and the growth of new, weak blood vessels. These changes within the back of your eye can negatively impact your vision, ranging from blurriness to near blindness. While these vision changes may come on suddenly, the changes within your eyes do not. Similar to many diabetic conditions,  the blood vessels are impacted slowly over time, oftentimes without any perceptible changes.

Fortunately, diabetes’ effect on your eyes can be minimized and treated if noticed early enough. The best way to monitor diabetes in your eyes is to have an annual diabetic eye exam with Dr. Notaro. Since her speciality is the retina, Dr. Notaro will be able to identify, monitor, and treat diabetes’ effects on your eyes. If you are worried about eye health or simply want an annual diabetic exam, please give our office a call at 716-839-9009.