Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in North America for people 30-69 years old. Eye disease may not have many symptoms-until it is advanced. Getting a dilated eye exam annually can prevent severe eye disease by finding problems earlier when they can be treated. Keeping your blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol in good control can decrease a person’s risk for diabetic eye disease. Educating yourself on diabetes management is very important, because you are in control of your diabetes. Taking your medications, monitoring your blood glucose, getting exercise, managing stress, and eating healthy will go a long way to help you manage your diabetes and decrease your risk for all complications of diabetes. Knowledge is Power!
Angela Sterrett RD, CDE
Dietitian, Diabetes educator
AdventHealth Diabetes and Nutrition Center
Daytona and Palm Coast
Read below for some tips to keep your eyes healthy, originally published by the National Diabetes Education Program.
1. Get a dilated eye exam at least once a year and share the results with your primary care doctor.
- In this exam, you will get eye drops to make your pupils larger. Pupils are the black circles in the middle of your eyes. The drops are painless and help your eye doctor see inside your eyes to look for signs of health problems.
- A dilated eye exam can help your eye doctor find and treat problems to keep you from losing your vision from diabetes.
- Your eye doctor may take pictures of your eyes with a tool called retinal photography. This helps to see the retina, which is at the back part of your eyes.
- Be sure to keep your next eye doctor appointment!
2. Visit your eye doctor right away if you:
- See little black lines or spots that don’t go away.
- See any red spots.
- See red fog.
- Have a sudden change in how clearly you see.
- Take longer than usual to adjust to darkness.
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