Diabetic retinopathy affects 4 out of 10 Mexicans with diabetes

In Mexico, four out of 10 people living with diabetes will develop diabetic retinopathy, an eye condition that can lead to blindness, alerted specialists in ophthalmology.

The head of the Association's Retina Service to avoid blindness in Mexico (APEC), Virgilio Morales Cantón, said that the lack of diabetes control represents the main risk factor for developing diabetic retinopathy.

“It is a disease that can be totally manageable, the problem is that people do not know that they can suffer from it.Patients when the disease arrives with us is already committed. ”

According to Morales Cantón, so that a person loses his eyes due to diabetic retinopathy, they must pass between 10 and 15 years since the disease began.That is why, he suggested that these people need to undergo explorations of their eyes at least once a year.

In this regard, the head of the Retina and Vitreous Department at the Hospital Nuestra Señora de la Luz Foundation, Abel Ramírez Estudillo, said that approximately two percent of people with diabetes may be blind after 15 years.

While 80 percent will present some degree of diabetic retinopathy."Many of the patients have some degree of diabetic retinopathy and can see well, hence the revision of patients is important."

He added that of the more than 12 million patients with diabetes, 38 percent will suffer from an eye retinopathy stage.In addition, it is estimated that in the country there are 346 thousand 438 people suffering from blindness for this cause.

According to the National Survey of Health and Nutrition (Ensenut) 2016, people with a previous diagnosis of diabetes reported as main complications of their diminished vision disease, damage to retina and loss of view.

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