LASIK, CATARACTS & LENS IMPLANTS

Michael E. Rom, M.D

Q: What is Diabetic Retinopathy? A: Diabetic Retinopathy is a serious eye disease of the retina caused from patients who have diabetes. The retina, which creates the picture for

our brain, located at the back of the eye is made of several small blood vessels. When the blood sugar is too high, blood vessels can swell and leak. Or they

can close, stopping blood from passing through. Sometimes abnormal new blood vessels grow on the retina. All of these changes can steal your vision.

Patients can have diabetic retinopathy and not know it. This is because it often has no symptoms in its early stages. As diabetic retinopathy gets worse, you will notice symptoms such as seeing an increasing number of floaters, having blurry vision, having vision that changes sometimes from blurry to clear, seeing blank or dark areas in your field of vision, having poor night vision, and/or noticing colors appear faded or washed out losing vision. Diabetic retinopathy symptoms usually affect both eyes.

Treatment options include controlling your blood sugar, which in turn keeps your eye’s blood vessels healthy. As the

disease progresses, injections such as anti-VEGF can help to reduce swelling of the

macula, slowing vision loss and perhaps improving vision. Steroid medicine is another option to reduce macular swelling. This is also given as injections in the eye. Your doctor will recommend how

many medication injections you will need over time. If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes,

regular eye exams are extremely important!

Michael E. Rom, M.D.

Insight Eye Center Chardon (440) 286-1188

Mentor (440 205-5840 www.insighteyecenter.com