Diabetes: your retina gets checked even if you see well

The damage starts without symptoms and shows up in a dilated exam, so the check-up is scheduled instead of waiting for trouble.

Diabetes affects small blood vessels, and in the eye the smallest ones are in the retina. The first changes are neither felt nor noticed in your vision: that is why a retina exam is not requested when something bothers you, it is scheduled.

What the exam is like

• The pupil is dilated with drops so the whole retina can be seen, out to the periphery.
• Near vision stays blurry and light-sensitive for a few hours: come with someone and do not drive back.
• Depending on the findings, images of the fundus are taken so the next visit has something to compare against.

How often

Your ophthalmologist sets the interval from your history: how long you have had diabetes, how your control is going and what was found last time. What does not change is that the first exam happens at diagnosis, not years later.

Finding changes early opens treatment options that are no longer on the table later on. That is the whole reason to get checked while you still see well.

Tags DiabetesRetinaPrevention