High blood sugar may damage blood vessels all over the body, including the ones that send oxygen and nutrients to the eyes.
Managing diabetes can help you avoid diabetic retinopathy. If you do develop this eye disease, early treatment can stop eye damage and prevent vision loss.
Ways to protect your vision with diabetes
If you have diabetes, you can consider these five steps alongside working with your doctor to promote your vision health.
1. Keep your blood glucose in a healthy range
Managing blood sugar is the best way to prevent eye complications like diabetic retinopathy.
High blood sugar not only damages blood vessels in the eyes but can also change the shape of the lens and lead to blurry vision.
A healthy blood sugar level for people with diabetes is:
- Fasting: 80–140 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL)
- After eating: 140 mg/dL or less
- A1C: less than 5.7%
A1C is a measure of your average blood sugar over 2–3 months.
You can keep your blood sugar levels in range with eating habits and physical activity, and by taking diabetes medications if prescribed to you.
2. Manage blood pressure and cholesterol
Having high blood pressure or high cholesterol increases the risk of diabetic retinopathy. Visiting your doctor for regular blood sugar and cholesterol checks can help determine whether your blood pressure and cholesterol numbers need adjusting.
Managing your blood pressure and cholesterol is also good for your heart and general health. Diet, physical activity, and medication (if you need it) can help get your numbers back into a moderate range.
Diabetic eye disease doesn’t cause symptoms in its early stages. Getting regular checkups with an ophthalmologist can increase the chances of finding any eye problems before they put your vision at risk.
The American Diabetes Association recommends an eye exam as part of the initial treatment plan for people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It’s recommended people living with type 1 diabetes get an exam within the first 5 years of diagnosis.
Ask your doctor for specific guidelines according to your medical history.
Eye exams are especially important if you’re of African American, Hispanic, Latin@, Native American, or Pacific Islander heritage. People in these groups may have a higher risk of vision loss from diabetes.
During each visit, your eye doctor performs a dilated eye exam to check your vision and look for problems in your retina and optic nerve. Between visits, let your doctor know if you have symptoms like:
- blurry vision
- changing vision
- dark spots in your sight
- flashes of light
- loss of color vision
Your eye doctor might want to see you more often than once a year if you have signs of diabetic retinopathy or another eye disease. The earlier these diseases are detected, the easier they are to treat.
The chemicals in cigarette smoke damage the parts of your eyes you need for clear vision.
Smokers have a higher risk of eye diseases, like cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Quitting smoking can help protect your eyes and improve your health overall.
Getting too little physical activity increases the risk of diabetes and complications like diabetic retinopathy. Regular exercise helps delay diabetic eye disease, slow its progression, and make it less severe.
Doctors don’t yet know which types of exercises are best or how much you need to protect against diabetic retinopathy.
However, you can follow the American Diabetes Association’s recommendation and get at least 150 minutes of physical activity per week. A mix of aerobic and strength training exercises is typically best.
Eye disease is common in people with diabetes. Managing your blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels can help prevent or slow vision loss and other diabetes complications.
Visiting your eye doctor at least once a year can help them diagnose any vision problems as early as possible.
If you’ve already lost some vision due to diabetes, there are ways to manage it. Your doctor can recommend a vision rehabilitation clinic. Special devices, glasses, contact lenses, and other treatments can help you optimize the sight you still have.