Diabetic Eye Exams in North Battleford

Diabetic retinopathy often progresses slowly and may not present visible symptoms until irreversible vision loss occurs. The blood vessels in your retina swell as blood sugar levels elevate.

In the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, blurry vision is a common symptom. As the condition progresses, it gets more serious. Blood vessels break and bleed, leaking into the macula and causing vision loss.

Diabetic macular edema occurs when the macula swells. The macula is responsible for your central vision, so impairment can impact the ability to read, write, drive, and recognize faces. This condition is quite serious and can lead to blindness.

In severe cases of diabetic retinopathy, the damage to the blood vessels can lead to scarring of the retina. As the scarring grows, the damaged tissue can pull on the retina, eventually causing retinal detachment, which has a high risk of permanent vision loss or blindness.

Diabetes increases the risk of developing glaucoma, a group of eye diseases that impair the optic nerve responsible for transferring visual information from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma damages the nerves, causing gradual vision loss that can lead to permanent blindness.

Glaucoma can progress https://opto.ca/eye-health-library/glaucoma, which is why regular diabetic eye exams are crucial for evaluating your visual health, including optic nerve function.

Cataracts are cloudy, thick spots that form on the eye’s lens. The lens allows the eye to focus at different distances, and when it loses transparency, vision becomes blurry. While age causes the lens to naturally become less flexible and transparent, high blood sugar levels can trigger structural changes in the lens, resulting in early cataract development.