Retinopathy caused by diabetes

The people who have to live with diabetes every day are about 5% of the Italian population.

Some of these people also have to deal with disorders and diseases associated with diabetes , such as diabetic retinopathy (RD – Social Manifesto ), a disease that affects the eyes and is also a major cause of low vision and disorders even more serious ones, such as diabetic maculopathy or even blindness.

Every year, the Camo, Centro Ambrosiano Oftalmico, in conjunction with World Sight Day , which falls in October, warns about the risk to the eyes that a disease such as diabetes can cause, especially after many years and in absence of periodic and regular monitoring.

The main cause of diabetic retinopathy is in fact connected to poorly controlled diabetes, which, over time, leads to the development of alterations in the state of the small blood vessels.

The SID-AMD guidelines, reported at the bottom of this page, (Italian Society of Diabetology-Association of Diabetes Doctors) recommend an eye screening every two years , if retinopathy is absent at the last checkup. Obviously, the prevention and treatment of diabetes, so the first move to play, always starts with nutrition . 

Diabetes and the eyes

Diabetes is a disease not to be underestimated that can lead to the development of diseases and dysfunctions in various organs, if not properly treated. The result of what, in the long run, the eyes of diabetic people can suffer, is that of a long-term accumulated damage to the small blood vessels of the retina .

The good thing is that, as IAPB (International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness) communicates, the damage to the retina associated with diabetes is generally avoidable .

This is why it is important to monitor the patient at 360 °, i.e. by periodically checking blood sugar levels and blood sugar levels, but also by monitoring the state of the ocular fundus, carrying out, if necessary, specific tests such as retinography, fluorangiography and OCT.

Vision and Diabetes Care Centers

There is no doubt the importance of relying on the care of a specialist, a diabetic and ophthalmologist , or a center that can guarantee effective and effective help with this type of problem.

Here is a series of associations, organizations and Italian reference centers that can be useful to you and that promote vision care, in parallel with diabetes monitoring. 

> IAPB Italia Onlus with the guidelines on diabetic retinopathy ;
> SID-AMD (Italian Society of Diabetology-Association of Diabetes Doctors);
> Diabetes Italy ;
> FAND  Italian Diabetics Association;
> IBDO Italian Barometer Diabetes Observatory Foundation;
> Italian Society of General Medicine ( SIMG ).