Hello everyone. Today’s guest post comes from Ultralase who offer laser eye surgery and are specialists in vision correction.
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Many people know a range of outcomes of diabetes. While sufferers are likely to be hit by weight loss, lethargy, hyperventilation, abdominal pain and nausea, a lot of individuals are unaware of how it affects eye health. With eye care, you may be able to identify the problems early and act accordingly, even with something as drastic as laser eye surgery from http://ie.ultralase.com/. Here is a quick guide to the links between diabetes and eyesight, as well as the things you can do to manage the condition.
Too much glucose in the blood for a long time is known to cause problems related to diabetes. High blood glucose (which is also referred to as blood sugar) damages parts of the body such as the eyes, heart, blood vessels and kidneys. Heart and blood vessel disease also lead to heart attacks and strokes, so the eyes are a good indicator of what could be faced later in life.
Diabetes can hurt your eyes in a variety of ways but the high blood glucose and raised blood pressure from diabetes affects the retina in particular. This is the lining at the back of the eye, which senses light coming into the eye and reacts accordingly. Diabetes can result in blurry or double vision, rings, flashing lights, blank spots, floating spots, pain or pressure in one or both eyes, as well as trouble seeing things out of the corners of the eyes.
Retina damage progresses slowly. This area of the eye has tiny blood vessels that are easily affected, and high blood glucose or blood pressure can damage these tiny blood vessels over extended periods of time. The vessels swell and weaken, leading to them becoming clogged. While you may not have any loss of sight from changes in the short-term, it will worsen as time progresses. New blood vessels grow, and these weaker additions break easily and leak blood into the vitreous of the eye. This blood keeps light from reaching the retina, resulting in all manner of extended problems.
There are a number of things you can do each day to stay healthy with diabetes. By following a healthy eating plan, side effects can be minimised. People need to be active for a total of 30 minutes over most days of the week, while taking any medicines as directed. Blood glucose levels must be checked every day, while feet must be checked every day for cuts, sores, blisters, swelling, and even sore toenails. Also be sure to brush and floss teeth every day, while controlling blood pressure and cholesterol. Smokers must seriously consider quitting their habit too. Finally, while it may seem like an obvious point to make, but there should be an eye care professional that examines eyes once a year, or more frequently if problems seem to get worse.