Diabetes is a disease in which there are not only higher levels of blood sugar but a vascular alteration that involves all the body's blood vessels, including those found in the eyes.
The retina is a sensitive layer with brain cells that collect images and send them to the brain and that is made up of very small and fine blood vessels.When performing a test called Fund the Eye, the alteration of the rest of the body's blood vessels can be determined.
As Dr. Álvaro Fernández-Vega, a retina expert and medical deputy director of the Fernández-Vega Ophthalmological Institute, explains to Infosalus, it is key to transmit to the population that diabetes is a chronic disease and whose treatment depends largely on the patient."The way they control their disease depends on how they will live in the next 10 or 20 years," says the ophthalmologist.
Eye problems are the same in people with type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes, although type 1 diabetes when appearing before is more aggressive since it has more years of evolution and its control can have a great impact on the future.In adolescents, training in the disease is key, at a time when the search for identity can lead to positions facing their parents.
"Type 2 diabetes is a disease that appears later in life and is more common among people with obesity that do not take care of themselves but with diet control and more exercise can be controlled at their initial levels, but the patient mustKnowing that it is diabetic even if insulin is not click, "says the specialist.
Fernández-Vega considers that "we must raise awareness that ophthalmological review is key since with an eye fund you can see the overall vascularization of the organism and the state in which they are therefore found by heart and kidney."
With the diabetic vascular alteration the blood vessels of the retina lose cells and release serum giving rise to a waterlogget to cause blindness.
In addition, vascular cells of the affected eye emit signals for help to the organism that generates growth factors to restore blood flow through the production of more blood vessels that can drag the retina, obstruct the drainage of the eye and increase the blood pressureocular giving rise to a greater risk of retinal detachments, spills and glaucoma.
The two main damage caused by diabetes in the eyes can be treated from different perspectives, the increase of liquid in the eye or the anomalous production of blood vessels:
* Macular edema: By consisting of a waterlogging, the eye is click to reduce edema but not only in several days but for life since it is a chronic treatment that extends throughout life.
* Abnormal vascularization: It is a more aggressive way of treatment in which the laser is used indirectly to eliminate the abnormal proliferative vessels that can lead to complete blindness.The laser burns areas of the without irrigation that produce growth factors that attract substances to the area for vascularization and thus disappears anomalous neovascularization although the effect of the laser is seen in the long term.
Diabetes control = prevention retinopathy
According to Dr. Fernández-Vega, in the prevention of diabetic retinopathy, the control of the patient is involved.The key points in the control of the diabetic affectation of the eyes include:
1st strict sugar control at different times of the day by controlling theBut peroxy hemoglobin.An analytics every six months will also show their levels, if they are below 6% Diabetes is poorly controlled and if it is in values of between 7% and 7.30% it is well controlled.A bad control of diabetes largely multiplies the risk of blindness.
2nd Control of blood pressure: It must also be done at home with a tensiometer and its minimum/maximum values should be between 70-80/120-130 mm/hg.
3rd Control of blood lipids: control the diet and drug intake, if necessary, help to have less cholesterol.Through the background test it is possible to see cholesterol crystals.
4º No to tobacco: either in people suffering from diabetes as in their family members who could cause passive smoking.Tobacco is a powerful vasoconstrictor and has an impact on eye health.
5th Adequate body mass index: Being thin and exercise without overloading the heart with activities that involve at least walking improve the prognosis of diabetes and their possible eye complications.
6º Identify the sleep apnea: the people who snore must rule out the possibility of this pathology and seek treatment, since the lack of oxygen during nightlife aggravate the retinopathy since they reduce the amount of oxygen that reaches the eye.
7th Taking care of the target organs: the proper functioning of the kidney in the balance of body fluids also implies adequate functioning in the eyes.
