Diabetes and Vision

A guest article by Orlin Sorensen of Rebuild Your Vision

In recent years, diabetes has become an epidemic - not just in the United States, but all around the world. The International Diabetes Federation estimated in 2006 that the disease affected a staggering 246 million people worldwide, with 46% of those affected in the 40-59 age group. It also predicted that the total number of diabetes sufferers will skyrocket to 380 million within 20 years if nothing is done.

In the US, rates of diabetes DOUBLED between 1990 and 2005. We're now spending $116 billion to treat the 23.6 million people - or 7.8% of the population - with diabetes. If trends continue unchanged, 1 out of every 3 children born in the year 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime.

While you may know that diabetes is bad - leading to health complications like kidney failure, nerve damage and stroke - did you also know that diabetes affects your vision?

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition in which the body's ability to turn food into energy is impaired. Humans break down digested food into a sugar called glucose, which is our main source of fuel. In a healthy person, the hormone insulin helps glucose enter the cells. But diabetics fail to produce enough insulin, or their bodies do not properly use it, so their cells starve while glucose builds up in their blood.

There are two predominant types of diabetes. In Type 1, the immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that make insulin. In Type 2, which accounts for an estimated 90% to 95% of all cases, the body's cells are not sufficiently receptive to insulin, or the pancreas makes too little of it, or both.

Diabetes and Vision

Diabetes is the number one cause of blindness in the US according to All About Vision:"Although diabetics have a high sugar count in the blood, along with insufficient insulin production, the real damage is done by lack of oxygen. Because the eyes have such tiny blood vessels and yet need a lot of blood (and therefore oxygen), diabetes can cause a great deal of damage. The blood vessels in the eyes can leak, which can cause scarring and loss of vision."

The most common vision complication from diabetes is diabetic retinopathy (damage to the retina caused by diabetes); almost 6 million Americans have it. Symptoms include blurred vision; floaters; and shadows, or missing areas of vision - although many people show no symptoms before major bleeding occurs in the eye. This is what makes diabetes such a pernicious disease; its damage creeps up on you, compounding slowly and silently year after year.

Diabetes can also alter the clear tissue covering the front of the eye. Decreased corneal sensation has been noted, and swelling of the corneal tissue can reduce vision, sometimes dramatically, in people with this disease.

And as if that weren't enough, overall the risk of cataracts is 2 to 4 times greater in diabetics as compared to those without the disease - perhaps even as high as 15 to 25 times greater in those with Type 1 diabetes.

Hispanic Americans are especially at risk for diabetes and its vision problems. Among Hispanic Americans over 40, 1 in 5 is diabetic, and almost half have diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in this ethnic group.

What You Can Do

Because damage to the eye develops slowly, early detection of diabetes and control of blood sugar through diet and medications can make a crucial difference in saving vision. Make sure to have a baseline eye disease screening by age 40, when early signs of disease and changes in vision may start to occur.

If you've already been diagnosed with diabetes, the most important thing you can do to protect your vision is to control your blood sugar. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial determined that control of a patient's blood sugar is critical in reducing the rate, as well as the progression, of retinopathy. In addition to controlling their blood sugar, people with diabetes should work with their primary care physician to control their blood pressure, since both are important to slowing the development of retinopathy. The second element in safeguarding your vision is to get annual dilated eye exams with your eye doctor.

As with most health conditions, making positive changes in your diet and exercise helps to both prevent diabetes and manage it if you have it. Start now: ignore the piles of candy in the grocery store and opt for an apple or a handful of almonds instead. Read the labels on packaged foods - if you can't pronounce an ingredient, or don't know what it is, chances are you shouldn't eat it. Take a walk around the block, no matter the weather. And when those autumn leaves start to fall, rake them up, jump in them, and rake them up again!

About The Author

Orlin Sorensen is the creator of Rebuild Your Vision, an eye exercise course designed to help anyone improve their natural vision. With vision training routines designed for high degrees of myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia and astigmatism, Rebuild Your Vision can help you overcome your need for glasses and contact lenses for life.

Read My Full Rebuild Your Vision Review Here