Diabetic Retinopathy is the leading cause of new blindness in adults. In most cases, vision loss from diabetes can be prevented or restored if caught in time. Patients require routine examination with treatment applied before vision becomes blurry. Patients with diabetes should be examined at least once a year. Laser surgery is often needed to prevent vision loss in most diabetics. Clear vision does not mean that the disease is absent.
Proliferative diabetic retinopathy:
Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (PDR) is a complication of diabetes caused by changes in the blood vessels of the eye. If you have diabetes, your body does not use and store sugar properly. High blood sugar levels create changes in the veins, arteries and capillaries that carry blood throughout the body. This includes the tiny blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensitive nerve layer that lines the back of the eye.
In PDR, the retinal blood vessels are so damaged they close off. In response, the retina grows new, fragile blood vessels. Unfortunately, these new blood vessels are abnormal and grow on the surface of the retina, so they do not re-supply the retina with blood.
Laser surgery may be used to shrink the abnormal blood vessels and reduce the risk of bleeding. The body will usually absorb blood from a vitreous hemorrhage, but that can take days, months or even years.
People with PDR sometimes have no symptoms until it is too late to treat them. The retina may be badly injured before there is any change in vision. Because PDR often has no symptoms, if you have any form of diabetes you should have your eyes examined regularly by your eye doctor.