Just as the pipes in our home are the strong
tube-like structures which carry water where it needs to go (faucets, shower
heads, commodes), your blood vessels (veins, arteries, capillaries) are strong
tube-like structures through which your blood travels to get to where it needs
to go. The pipes in our homes must be maintained for quality endurance; proper
care must be given to prevent corrosion or blockage, which weakens the entire
plumbing structure of our homes. So, too, goes it with our blood vessels.
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| How Does Diabetes Affect a Person's Eyes? |
Now, every winter in many areas of the country
the roads start to resemble the moon's surface. The de-icing rock salt strewn
about on our roadways and highways helps to eat away at the asphalt, weakening
its structure and ability to hold, thereby creating those unsightly potholes.
Well, sugar does to your strong blood vessels
what rock salt does to our nicely paved roads: It literally eats away at the
insides of the veins through which it travels, thereby weakening their
structure.
What happens when veins become weak? They leak
(which is, by the way, why surgery for overweight and obese people is always
more problematic because the weaker the veins the more bleeding).
The major cause of diabetic retinopathy is high
blood sugar levels.{C}
Diabetes can affect all the structures in the
eye. But the major effects are generally in the retina, which is the light-sensitive
membrane that lines the back of each eye. Diabetes-related damage to the retina
is called diabetic retinopathy, and can cause a variety of
problems, including retinal bleeding, changes to the shape and course of blood
flow within the retina, and thickening and swelling of the center of the retina
(diabetic macular edema).
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| How Does Diabetes Affect a Person's Eyes? |
Diabetic macular edema is the leading cause of
moderate vision loss. Patients with diabetes are also at a higher risk for
cataracts (a clouding of the lens at the front of the eye).
In addition to high blood sugar levels, high
blood pressure and high cholesterol are also factors in retinal complications
and vision loss. The major cause of all three---high blood sugar, high blood
pressure and high cholesterol---is obesity!
The most important risk factor for diabetic retinopathy is the duration of diabetes. If you're overweight
and obese, make weight loss a priority NOW... and 'see' yourself to good
health.
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