Diabetes can affect your eyes by impacting how your body stabilizes blood sugar levels. The disease can put stress on your vitals and body organs, thus causing risks to the health of your eyes.

Sometimes the problem may be minor, and you may only need to control your blood sugar or use eye drops to solve the issue. But sometimes, it may indicate a problem that requires immediate medical intervention. Below are some of the ways diabetes can affect your eyes.

Blurry Vision

A blurred sight is among the first warning signs that diabetes affects your vision. You will find it hard to make out the fine details of the things you see. The problem can mean that your glucose level is too low or too high.

Your sight may blur because of fluid leakage into your eye lens. As a result, the eye lens changes shape and begins swelling. Such changes make focusing difficult. Hence, everything you see looks fuzzy.

Most people with diabetes also get blurry vision when starting their insulin treatments. The problems occur due to the shift of fluids.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy occurs when the blood vessels of your retina become damaged. Your retina is responsible for receiving the light that enters the eyes and turns it into images that your optic nerve can send to the brain.

You are likely to experience the following symptoms:

• Distorted vision.
• Blurry vision.
• Difficulty seeing at night.
• Eye floaters.
• Vision loss.
• Vision color changes.

Diabetic retinopathy is irreversible, but treatment can help stabilize it. If the condition is undetected long enough, you risk going blind.

Cataracts

You are likely to have blurry vision when you have a cloudy eye lens inhibiting light from entering your eye. People who have diabetes tend to get cataracts earlier than other adults.

The other symptoms they may experience are:

• Light sensitivity.
• Halos or glare around lights.
• Frequent change of prescription glasses or contact lenses.
• Double vision in one eye.
• Fading of colors.

Your doctor may suggest cataract surgery to resolve your sight problem. They will remove the cloudy eye lens and replace it with an artificial clear one.

Glaucoma

People with diabetes are at a double risk of getting glaucoma than other individuals. Glaucoma develops when pressure builds up in the eyes and damages the optic nerve due to a lack of proper drainage of the fluid in the eyes.

People with diabetes tend to get neovascular glaucoma, where new blood vessels grow in their iris. The blood vessels block the normal flow of fluid in the eye and cause pressure buildup. Your doctor can treat the problem by reversing the development of the blood vessels through laser treatments. They will also need to lower the pressure immediately to avoid further debilitating vision changes.

Macular Edema

The macula helps give you a sharp and clear central vision. Most of the fine details and the colors our eyes see are due to the macula. It is part of the retina and has a high photoreceptor cell concentration.

Leaking fluid can cause the macula to swell, leading to macula edema. Diabetic retinopathy increases your risk of getting diabetic macula edema. You may experience color changes and wavy vision as symptoms of the condition.

For more about diabetes, visit Eastside Eye Physicians at our office in Shelby Township or St. Clair Shores, Michigan. You can also call (586) 247-2020 or (586) 774-2020 to book an appointment today.