Diabetes and Your Eyes

Diabetes can have a significant effect on your eyes and vision. Diabetes is a disease that affects the body’s ability to produce or use insulin effectively to control blood sugar levels. Although glucose is an important source of energy for the body’s cells, too much glucose in the blood for a long time can cause damage in many parts of the body, including the heart, kidneys, blood vessels and the small blood vessels in the eyes. When the blood vessels in the retina swell, leak or close off completely, or if abnormal new blood vessels grow on the surface of the retina, it results in diabetic retinopathy. Those people who are at greater risk of developing diabetic retinopathy are those who have diabetes or poor blood sugar control, women who are pregnant, and people with high blood pressure, high blood lipids or both. Also, people who are from certain ethnic groups, such as African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, are more likely to develop diabetic retinopathy.

Diabetes can cause vision in your eyes to change even if you do not have retinopathy. If your blood sugar levels change quickly, it can affect the shape of your eye’s crystalline lens, causing blurry vision, which goes back to normal after your blood sugar stabilizes. Maintaining good control of your blood sugar helps reduce episodes of blurry vision.

If you or someone you know has diabetes or even high blood sugar, especially if there is a family history of diabetes, you should have regular eye exams to help protect your eye health and vision. Please feel free to phone D’Ambrosio Eye Care at 800-325-3937 to schedule an appointment, visit D’Ambrosio Eye Care or facebook.com/dambrosioeyecare so that we can help recommend an appropriate treatment plan.

Staffed by a team of Ophthalmologists, Optometrists, Opticians, technical and administrative staff who provide eye examinations for adults and children, cataract surgery and intraocular lens implants (IOL), laser vision correction such as LASIK, diagnosis and treatment of cornea disease including cornea transplants, care for diseases of the retina including diabetes and age related macular degeneration and diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma as well as contact lenses, eyeglasses, eyewear and optical services.

D'Ambrosio Eye Care is a leading eye and LASIK care practice serving the greater Boston and central Massachusetts area including Acton, Athol, Berlin, Bolton, Boylston, Boxborough, Chelmsford, Clinton, Concord, Fitchburg, Gardner, Greenfield, Groton, Harvard, Hudson, Lancaster, Leominster, Lexington, Littleton, Lowell, Lunenburg, Marlborough, Milford, Shelburne Falls, Shirley, Sterling, Stow, Sudbury, Templeton, Westminster, Westborough, Winchendon and Worcester, Massachusetts.