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What Are The Signs And Symptoms Of A Diabetic Retinopathy?

Posted on Tue, 21 Feb 2017

Question: I'm a 38yr-old guy living in Iowa. I've had diabetes for eight years. I didn't take good care of myself all these years. Recently, I've gotten awake up call and have been controlling by blood sugar tightly. It rarely goes over 140. Usually between 115 and 140, sometimes 70 or so. Otherwise, all these years it used to be between 200 and 250. I recently saw an optometrist, and he examined my retinas after dilation. He said there was no evidence of retinopathy or macular edema. He said my eyes were fine, and that I should get myself examined after a year. He said at this point I didn't need a referral to an ophthalmologist. I have one concern : I have read that in a lot of cases,people who have mild retinopathy who drastically reduce blood sugar can experience rapid deterioration of their eye condition. Do I have to worry about that? In my case, there is no retinopathy to begin with. Will it likely suddenly appear and rapidly worsen? Do I need to see an ophthalmologist sooner than one year? By the way, mine is type 1 diabetes and I was hospitalized with keto acidosis eight years ago. Last a1c testing was done over two years ago. Now I'm very careful and will get another a1c testing done in a couple of months. It's been 3 weeks I've been controlling blood sugar. I saw the optometrist one week after starting sugar control. There has been no change in vision after sugar control. I see clearly but have mild difficulty at night, but much of that is due to glare from incoming cars. Thank you very much. Anurag

Answered by Dr. Dr. Elona (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
No evidence of diabetic retinopathy is a great result.

Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
I read carefully your query and understood your concern.

It is true.Some studies has demostrated that too rapid a decrease at the initiation of glycemic control could cause severe or transient exacerbation of the progression of retinopathy.
The findings of these studies indicate that the decrease in HbA1 value during any 6-month period should be limited to less than 2% in order to prevent the progression of retinopathy.

In your case,furtunatelly you have no evidence of retinopathy or macular edema and with your tight diabetes control you can slows the onset and worsening of diabetic retinopathy. So,you don't have to worry.

So,careful management of your diabetes is the best way to prevent vision loss.You have no signs of diabetic retinopathy,so see your eye doctor for a yearly eye exam with dilation.This is enough for you, in this moment.

My advice for you is to contact your eye doctor right away if your vision changes suddenly or becomes blurry, spotty or hazy.
I'm sure that you will not have such problems for long long time,if you control you blood sugar tightly.

Hope my information is helpful for you.
If you have other questions,feel free and ask.(you can ask me at HealthCareMagic at my private link: bit.do/hcm-Dr-Xhardo).I will be happy to help.
Wish you good health.

Note: For further follow-up, discuss your blood glucose reports with our diabetologist. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T