# Diabetic Eye Care

Diabetes damages the small blood vessels of the retina, and that damage develops without symptoms until it is advanced. An annual dilated or widefield retinal examination is the standard of care for everyone with diabetes.

**In short:** Annual retinal screening. Damage develops silently and is treatable when caught early.

Diabetic retinopathy is among the leading causes of preventable vision loss in working age adults, and the word preventable is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The damage develops silently over years, and by the time vision changes, significant retinal damage has usually occurred.

Screening finds it long before that point. Small haemorrhages, microaneurysms and areas of retinal swelling are all visible on retinal imaging while vision remains perfect, and identifying them changes both the eye care plan and often the diabetes management itself.

Widefield retinal imaging is particularly useful here, because diabetic changes frequently appear in the retinal periphery first. Capturing over 80 percent of the retina in a single image finds peripheral changes that a narrower view would miss.

## What to expect

**Widefield retinal imaging**

Over 80 percent of the retina captured in a single image, including the peripheral areas where diabetic changes often begin.

**OCT macular assessment**

Detects diabetic macular oedema, the retinal swelling that most commonly threatens central vision in diabetes.

**Year on year comparison**

Images are compared directly against previous years, so change is measured rather than remembered.

**Communication with your physician**

Findings are reported back to whoever manages your diabetes, because eye findings inform overall management.

## What this does not do

- Screening detects damage. Treatment for advanced retinopathy is delivered by a retinal specialist.
- Annual screening is a minimum. More frequent review is needed once changes are present.
- Eye screening does not replace blood glucose control, which remains the primary defence.


## Questions and answers
**How often do I need a diabetic eye exam?**

At least annually for everyone with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, and more frequently once retinopathy is present. Pregnancy raises the frequency too, because retinopathy can progress rapidly during it.

**My vision is fine. Do I still need this?**

Yes, and that is precisely the point. Diabetic retinopathy causes no symptoms until it is advanced, so normal vision provides no reassurance about the state of the retina.

**Do I have to be dilated?**

Widefield retinal imaging can often be used in place of dilation, which saves several hours of blurred vision. Dilation is still used where a fuller view is clinically warranted.

**Can eye changes be reversed?**

Early changes can stabilise and sometimes improve with good blood glucose control. Advanced retinopathy is treatable in the sense that further loss can be prevented, but damage already done tends to be permanent.

## Related

- https://eyedoctorphoenixaz.com/comprehensive-eye-exams/diabetic-eye-exams
- https://eyedoctorphoenixaz.com/about/technology/optomap-retinal-imaging
- https://eyedoctorphoenixaz.com/specialty-eye-care/macular-degeneration

---## About this practice
Arizona's Vision Eye Care Center, 15215 S 48th St Ste 180, Phoenix, AZ 85044.
Phone (480) 706-3937. Monday to Thursday 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Friday 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Closed Saturday and Sunday.
Independent optometry practice, founded 1994. One location. Does not perform refractive or cataract surgery.
This site publishes no star rating and no review count, because the figures across the practice's own properties contradict one another and cannot be verified.
This page is general information, not medical advice.