Experts warn against eye diseases caused by diabetes. Pointing out that high blood sugar negatively affects eye health, surgeon Dr. Mahmut Öztürk from Dünyagöz Ataköy Hospital said: “Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects small vessels and lasts a lifetime. Diabetes mellitus, in particular, threatens the health of the eyes, blocks the small vessels of the retina, and prevents its nutrition. Regular eye exams should never be skipped in diabetes mellitus, which causes a host of conditions from blurred vision to diabetic retinopathy, from cataracts to glaucoma.”
Blurred vision
Not all blurred vision is caused by visual impairment. Claiming that blurry vision can be a problem caused by high blood sugar, surgeon Dr. Özturk emphasizes that high blood sugar can cause swelling of the lens of the eye and also cause changes that affect vision, including blurred vision, and therefore health. The eyes need to have normal blood sugar levels both on an empty stomach and after eating. Emphasizing the importance of time in blurry vision caused by diabetes, surgeon Dr. Özturk argues that if blood sugar drops to normal levels within the first three months and if it can be maintained at this level, the patient's vision can return to normal.
Cataract
Surgeon Dr. Özturk pointed out the relationship between cataracts and diabetes and added: “Cataract is the loss of transparency and clouding of the natural lens of the eye, which is located behind the pupil and provides vision. A cataract is a vision problem whose only cure is surgery and can occur in any older person. However, in people with diabetes, cataracts may appear much earlier, and clouding of the lens of the eye and loss of vision may occur more quickly. For this reason, regular eye exams once a year are especially important for people with diabetes.”
Glaucoma
Pointing out that glaucoma is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in the world, surgeon Dr. Özturk said that glaucoma is a serious disease that can occur in anyone over the age of 35 and can progress insidiously and lead to blindness. For this reason, early diagnosis and treatment are very important. It is also a disease seen in patients with diabetes, which we call neovascular glaucoma, although it is not common. This disease, in which new blood vessels form on the iris, causes an increase in intraocular pressure.
Diabetic retinopathy
Surgeon Dr. Öztürk states that another important disease often seen in diabetic patients is diabetic retinopathy: “Diabetes, which disrupts the structure of the capillaries in the retina, leads to cell loss, which in turn leads to impaired vascular permeability, the accumulation of liquid and oily substances in the macula and the appearance of unnourished areas due to blockage of the capillaries. Some factors released from areas that are not nourished lead to the development of new small vessels in the retina. These small vessels, which differ from normal retinal vessels, bleed very easily. These hemorrhages in the eye entail many problems, such as the formation of membranes on the surface of the retina and retinal detachment.”
