Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin produced, causing sugar in the blood to increase. Unhealthy lifestyle is among the factors that can increase the risk of diabetes. If not treated quickly, this malignant disease can cause damage to multiple organs, one of which is the eye.

Over time, diabetes can cause damage to the eyes. This is caused by high blood sugar, which can damage the blood vessels behind the eyes. This can cause swelling, which leads to high pressure on the eyes. People with diabetes are likely to suffer from several eye-related diseases, including cataracts, glaucoma, Diabetic Macular Edema (DME), and retinopathy.

In people with diabetes, cataracts cause the lens of the eye to become blurry so that vision appears blurred due to a buildup of glucose levels. People with diabetes can suffer from cataracts at a younger age compared to those without diabetes. People with diabetes can also experience glaucoma, which is damage to the optic nerve of the eye caused by a buildup of fluid, which leads to the risk of loss of vision.

DME occurs when there is swelling of the macula, which is part of the retina that plays a role in helping you to read, drive, and see someone's face. This swelling can lead to partial vision loss to blindness. It should be noted that DME is a development of retinopathy, which is a disease that originates from the destruction of blood vessels, which causes bleeding in the eye due to high blood sugar.

Text by Anggie Triana
Stock photo from Pixabay

Source(s):

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease - Diabetic Eye Disease (2017). https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/preventing-problems/diabetic-eye-disease, 28 May 2019.