{"id":1313,"date":"2025-05-13T08:17:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T13:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2025-03-06T18:33:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T23:33:27","slug":"how-to-stop-diabetes-from-stealing-your-vision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/how-to-stop-diabetes-from-stealing-your-vision\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Stop Diabetes From Stealing Your Vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stop Diabetes From Stealing Your Vision<\/span><\/p>\n

In the past, diabetes was never such a big problem as it is today.<\/span><\/p>\n

People often thought of diabetes as simply a body condition where one must reduce one’s sugar and fat intake.<\/span><\/p>\n

Little did people know that diabetes could end up causing blindness!<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that diabetes is reaching epidemic levels in most of the western world, this problem is becoming more and more serious.<\/span><\/p>\n

Vision is one of our most critical senses and in this “need for speed” information era, over 70% of our sensory information comes through our eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, diabetics are 25 times more likely to lose vision than those who are not diabetic.<\/span><\/p>\n

With diabetes already being the number one cause of blindness in the United States, it’s no wonder eye care professionals are predicting a devastating increase in vision loss as the diabetic epidemic continues to grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

People newly diagnosed with diabetes often have nothing more than minor vision fluctuations which settle when blood sugar levels improve with treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early on it’s easy to believe everything is fine.<\/span><\/p>\n

After some years though, continuing high blood sugar can gradually damage the blood vessels at the back of the eye in the retina.<\/span><\/p>\n

This causes a problem called diabetic retinopathy, and the longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to develop retinopathy.<\/span><\/p>\n

The risk increases further when there is poor control of blood sugar levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than 70% of diabetics develop some changes in their eyes within 15 years of diagnosis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, what exactly is retinopathy? There are 2 types of retinopathy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Retinopathy is graded as Non-proliferative or Proliferative.<\/span><\/p>\n

Non-proliferative retinopathy is the common milder form, where small retinal blood vessels break and leak.<\/span><\/p>\n

There may be some mild retinal swelling but it rarely requires treatment unless it causes hazy central vision or straight lines appear bent.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, proliferative retinopathy is the less common, but more serious form where new blood vessels grow abnormally within the retina.<\/span><\/p>\n

If these vessels scar or bleed, they can lead to potentially serious vision loss including blindness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early laser treatment can seal leaking vessels and slow the progress of diabetic retinopathy, but can’t reverse existing vision loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although there is no real cure or method to eliminate the risk of diabetic eye damage, you can do two important things to help prevent the more serious complications.<\/span><\/p>\n

The critical first step is making sure you stabilize and control your blood sugar with a healthy diet and regular exercise.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second step is to make sure you have a yearly diabetic eye examination.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diabetes is a disease that mostly affects blood vessels and in its extreme forms can lead to serious heart disease, stroke and kidney damage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly these life-threatening diabetic vascular diseases deserve priority attention, but high on the critical list for diabetics is the risk of serious eye disease and loss of vision.<\/span><\/p>\n

Make sure you have regular eye exams with a qualified doctor to prevent any diabetes-related eye problems!<\/span><\/p>\n

An experienced eye care professional can pick up subtle diabetic eye changes long before you notice any vision change, and more importantly, early enough to do some good.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you suspect that you or a close one has diabetes, or if diabetes is already present, now is the time to seek a doctor for a detailed eye exam before it’s too late!<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t let diabetes claim another person’s vision!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stop Diabetes From Stealing Your Vision In the past, diabetes was never such a big problem as it is today. People often thought of diabetes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"How To Stop Diabetes From Stealing Your Vision - Diabetes","description":"Stop Diabetes From Stealing Your Vision In the past, diabetes was never such a big problem as it is today. People often thought of diabetes as simply a body con"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diabetes","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mickeylieberman.com\/diabetes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}