Diabetic Eye Exams

Uncover the Connection Between Your Eyes & Health

You might not know it, but your overall health and eyes share a deep, intrinsic connection.

How you manage your overall health could also affect your eyes. Our team is here to explain this relationship and how we can help support your eye health. If you have a health concern like diabetes, we orient our exam process to look for problems that may stem from these issues so we can help preserve your sight throughout your life.

Discover how we can help protect your vision today and book your appointment at Advanced Family Eye Care.

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How Does Diabetes Affect Your Eyes?

Diabetes is a disease that affects your body’s ability to process sugar (glucose) in your bloodstream.

Regardless of the type of diabetes you have, it can lead to high blood sugar. High blood sugar can increase the risk of several health problems, like heart disease, nerve damage, and even eye disease.

Diabetes-related eye disease can lead to permanent vision loss, so we recommend having annual eye exams to help detect these issues as early as possible. Depending on your eye health, we may recommend more frequent eye exams.

Common Diabetes-Related Eye Problems

We can detect diabetes-related eye diseases with the help of technologies like Optos digital retinal imaging and optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Optos retinal imaging captures highly-detailed color images of your retina, including its blood vessels. Optical coherence tomography captures cross-sectional images of your retina using a technique similar to an ultrasound, but using light instead of sound to produce the images.

These technologies and other techniques can help us detect a range of diabetes-related eye diseases, including diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, and more.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common diabetes-related eye diseases patients can develop. It occurs when high blood sugar levels affect the blood vessels in your retina, causing them to bulge, burst, and leak fluids.

These fluids can damage your retina over time, leading to permanent vision loss.

Diabetic Macular Edema

Diabetic macular edema is an eye disease that can develop alongside diabetic retinopathy.

As fluids leak from your retina’s damaged blood vessels, they can accumulate under your macula, causing it to swell over time. Your macula is responsible for providing central sight, but diabetic macular edema can cause blurry, wavy central vision or even permanent vision loss.

Other Eye Diseases & Conditions

Diabetes can also increase the risk of other eye diseases, such as glaucoma and cataracts.

Please visit our Eye Disease Diagnosis & Management page to learn about glaucoma, or visit our Adult & Senior Eye Exams page to uncover more about catarac

Book Your Comprehensive Eye Exam Today

Eye exams aren’t just for updating your lens prescription—they can help protect your eyes from overall health concerns that can also affect your eye health.

If you have diabetes, please make sure you’re having regular eye exams and book your next one today with the Advanced Family Eye Care team.