Although we do regular health checks to make sure our laboratory results are always within normal limits, there is one crucial exam that we often neglect – an eye exam. But why is an eye exam important? How can it help prevent diabetes?
Diabetes and Your Eyes
Increased blood sugar level, especially if it is uncontrolled, damages your eyes. It weakens the small blood vessels supplying your eyes, causing them to leak blood. The small hemorrhages prevent your retinas from getting the blood supply they need to function properly, and continuous blood leakage and worsening blood sugar levels also lead to blurry vision, double vision, retinal damage (retinopathy), and ultimately blindness.
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Fortunately though, eye damage caused by diabetes can be prevented and treated. Early detection can even prevent the worsening of eye problems and help prevent the development of diabetes.
Importance of Regular Eye Exams
We see an eye doctor when we develop problems with our vision, but unfortunately, some of us only visit an eye doctor when the symptoms begin to worsen. If diabetes runs in your family, you need to get regular eye health checks because early detection and proper medical intervention can:
- Prevent eye damage and slow down its progression.
- Prevent eye pain. Eye pain typically occurs long after the development of eye damage.
- Serve as an early warning sign of the development and progression of diabetes. The blood vessels in your eyes can easily be checked through comprehensive dilated eye exams. If there are any changes to your eye blood vessels, then these changes are also present all throughout your body.
As mentioned above, we only see our doctors when our symptoms begin to worry us. Comprehensive diabetic eye exams, a health check oftentimes neglected, can help prevent blindness caused by diabetes. It can even detect diabetes, so early medical intervention can be given to prevent its progression.
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