How Diabetes Affects Your Eyes—and What You Can Do About It
November is National Diabetes Awareness Month — an opportune time to focus on early detection, management, and support for people living with diabetes. If you have diabetes, you are most likely familiar with the potential risks it presents to your vision. Uncontrolled blood sugar can damage the retina and the small vessels in the back of the eye, which can lead to diabetic retinopathy — the most common cause of vision loss from diabetes.
High blood sugar can also lead to a number of other eye diseases, including macular edema, diabetic cataracts, and glaucoma. It’s crucial to stay aware of your daily glucose numbers and to monitor your A1C (an average of your blood sugar levels over the past two to three months) to protect your eyes from the glucose spikes and dips that can damage your vision.
Here are some tips for people living with diabetes to help protect and preserve your vision:
- Get a Comprehensive Dilated Eye Exam Once a Year
It isn’t unusual for early-stage diabetic eye disease to have no symptoms — you may not notice any change at all in your vision. Regular monitoring and dilated eye exams allow your optometrist to detect any signs of retinal or optic nerve damage, track your vision changes over time, and begin treatment promptly if signs of disease do appear.
- Maintain Control of Your Blood Sugar Levels
Uncontrolled blood sugar can damage the retina, affect the shape of your eyes’ natural lenses, and may cause blurry vision that comes and goes due to swelling. If you have unstable blood sugar, the resulting blurred vision will impact your vision prescription. That’s why it’s important to keep your blood sugar under tight control. Over time, damaged blood vessels from unregulated blood sugar levels can cause leaking, bleeding, and even abnormal vessel growth that can lead to vision loss.
- Consider Wearable Technology for Diabetes
New wearable technologies to help you manage diabetes are true game-changers. These devices can reduce or eliminate the need to prick your finger multiple times daily for blood testing. Such technology is convenient and invaluable to people who are needle-phobic.
- Insulin pump. People with diabetes can utilize an insulin pump which automatically delivers a dose of insulin when needed, so patients don’t have to self-inject.
- Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM). People with diabetes or pre-diabetes can wear a CGM device that tracks glucose levels and alerts the patient to high or low blood sugar. CGM systems can help you monitor and “red flag” the types of carbohydrates that can cause blood sugar spikes in your body.
- Make Healthy Eating Choices
A healthy diet includes vegetables, protein, healthy fats, and carbohydrates — but not all carbohydrates cause the same blood sugar reaction in your body. Complex carbs such as oats, peas, beans, whole grains, and vegetables are metabolized much differently than simple carbs, which are broken down quickly by the body and cause a fast rise or “spike” in blood sugar.
Aim to avoid simple carbs — refined sugars including candy, syrups, soft drinks, honey, and fruit juice. Monitoring your response to certain foods, which you can do with a CGM, can help you make better food choices and protect your vision. Another great idea? Keep a food diary to track which foods and drinks make your blood sugar spike or dip.
- Exercise Like You Mean It
Movement is beneficial for both diabetes OR pre-diabetes — which makes it good for your eyes. Regular exercise is the foundation of diabetes management. Moving your body by walking, cycling, dancing, or even heavy housework can improve insulin sensitivity and provide oxygen and blood circulation to your eyes, which helps reduce the risk of diabetic eye damage. And the bonus of losing some weight through that movement will not only help control your diabetes but counter insulin resistance and improve your overall quality of life. The power to protect your eyesight is firmly in your hands — so get moving!
- Stay Hydrated
Water —just plain water from your faucet — is a perfect choice to sip throughout the day. You may want to try a seltzer or sparkling water with a lemon or orange wedge, cucumber slice, or sprig of mint for a little zing. Beverages with no added sugar support healthy glucose metabolism.
When you’re in the mood for something other than water, try a vegetable juice, coconut water, mango leaf tea, beet juice, tomato juice, chamomile, lemon ginger tea, or grapefruit juice. If you are looking specifically for a hydration drink, Propel, Smart Water, or Power Water have no sugar and no calories and also provide electrolytes that can help regulate blood sugar, keep your body hydrated, regulate pH, and support muscle and nerve function.
If you aren’t preparing your own beverages, be sure to read the labels on pre-prepared drinks — even diet or low-calorie drinks. Pay particular attention to any added sugars which can “hide” under terms like high fructose corn syrup, cane crystals, fruit juice concentrate, agave nectar, or mannose. There are over 61 different names for sugar!
Pro-tip: Any word ending in the letters -ose is a code word for some type of sugar: Fructose, glucose, lactose, dextrose, maltose, sucrose — these ingredients are all sneaky code names for sugar!
Maintaining Good Vision is Up to You
These five tips will not cure diabetes, but they can help you protect your eyes from vision damage caused by diabetic eye disease.
However, your best defense against serious vision loss is to take control of your diabetes on a daily basis, and schedule regular annual eye exams with your optometrist. Call our office today to schedule a comprehensive eye exam and let our doctors keep an eye on your eyes.