• atherosclerosis (which can lead to heart attack and stroke) and
• microvascular disease (which can cause eye, kidney, and nerve damage).

Sun Life Medical Directors Raymond Tso and Athena Remolina have noted that, among these complications, one of the most devastating ones is vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy.

Here are their takeaways on diabetes-related vision loss and what you can do to stop it from happening:

What is diabetic retinopathy?

In simple terms, diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication that affects eyes. It’s a leading cause of avoidable visual impairments and blindness worldwide. It’s the main cause of impaired vision in people between the ages of 25 and 74.2 Plus, other eye diseases such as cataracts and glaucoma are more prevalent in people with diabetes.

Diabetic retinopathy is caused by damage to the blood vessels in the light sensitive tissue in the back of the eye (retina). There are usually two stages involved:

• Early stage, which is less severe. In this stage, blood vessels in the eye may leak fluid into the retina.
• Advanced stage. This is where new blood vessels start to grow in the eye, which are fragile and can bleed. This may cause scarring of the retina and vision loss.

Who’s at risk of diabetic retinopathy?

Anyone with type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes is potentially at risk of developing diabetic retinopathy. Often depends on how long you’ve had diabetes and what your blood sugar levels are like. If you’ve had diabetes for a longer time and poorly controlled blood sugar levels, then you’re at a higher risk of vision loss.

Other risk factors include:

• hypertension (high blood pressure),
• presence of other microvascular complications such as diabetes-related nephropathy (kidney disease) and neuropathy (nerve damage), and
• high cholesterol levels.

What are the symptoms of diabetic retinopathy?

Many people with diabetic retinopathy have no symptoms until very advanced stages. If problems are caught early, treatment can help prevent or reduce vision loss. These symptoms can include:

• blurry vision or floating spots,
• difficulty telling colours apart and
• trouble seeing things at the centre of your focus when reading or driving.

How do you test for diabetic retinopathy?

Diabetic retinopathy can be diagnosed through two tests:

• Dilated eye exam. For this test, they’ll use eye drops to open your pupils so the retina can be visualized.
• Digital retinal imaging. During this test, they’ll use a special camera to take pictures of the eye.

How do you treat vision loss due to diabetes?

Mild diabetic retinopathy isn’t always treated. But affected individuals can keep the condition from getting worse by keeping their blood sugar and blood pressure levels as close to normal as possible.

The main treatments for more advanced diabetic retinopathy are:

• Laser surgery, which can stop or slow leakage of blood and fluid in the eye.
• Surgery through a tiny incision in the eye to remove blood from the middle of the eye (vitreous) as well as scar tissue on the retina (Vitrectomy).
• Medicines injected into the eye. Medications called vascular endothelial growth factor (VGEF) inhibitors are injected into the vitreous. This may help stop growth of new blood vessels

How can you help prevent vision loss from diabetes?

Nowadays, people are much more aware that diabetes can lead to vision problems. But misconceptions still exist. One of the more common mistakes is to seek medical advice only when symptoms start to show. That’s simply not true and may prevent adequate screening and treatment.

What’s more, 50% of people with diabetes aren’t even aware they have it. And even among those who know they have diabetes, less than half go to routine eye exams.3

So, what can you do to help prevent vision loss and eye damage from diabetes? Here are two essential tips to keep in mind:

1. Get your eyes checked every year. Regular eye exams are essential for detecting retinopathy at an early stage. That’s when the condition can be monitored and treated to preserve vision.

2. Control your blood sugar levels and blood pressure. Optimum control of blood sugar and blood pressure may stop or slow the progression of diabetic retinopathy. It also helps if you can avoid other risk factors like high cholesterol and smoking.

• Your eating habits can affect your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar.

In Malaysia, the latest statistics showed that 36.8% of diabetic patients suffered from diabetic retinopathy4. With the high prevalence of diabetes in Malaysia, the on-going efforts to raise diabetes awareness and prevention are critical.

As such, for the third year running, Sun Life has taken a leading role to raise awareness of the importance of early detection of Diabetes with our flagship Brighter Health Screening Programme, which offers complimentary blood glucose screening. So, just walk into any participating Health Lane Family Pharmacy and AM PM Pharmacy outlets nationwide, from now till end Nov, and receive a blood glucose screening for FREE.

The Programme also offers FREE personalised consultation by MOG Eyewear, where you can get a 6-in-1 Vision Experience that would help diagnose possible symptoms of vision and other health problems. This Experience is available at all its 45 participating outlets nationwide.

To learn more, please visit https://bit.ly/SLM-BH

It’s never too late to start making simple changes in your lifestyle to prevent diabetes. Talk to our advisor today to find out how to live life healthier.

This article is meant to provide general information only. Please seek advice from a qualified medical professional before acting on any information found in this article.

Read more:

• Get moving to prevent and manage Diabetes
• How better nutrition can prevent Diabetes
• 5 ways to stop Diabetes before it starts

¹ National Health and Morbidity Su rvey 2019
² Diabetic Retinopathy Cheung N, et al. Lancet 2010, Lee R et al. Epidemiology of diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema and related vision loss Eye and Vision (London England) 2015:2:17.
³ Diabetic Retinopathy: Medscape Abdhish R Bhavsar May 2019. And, UpToDate: Diabetic Retinopathy.
⁴ Diabetic retinopathy among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Sabah primary health clinics–Addressing the underlying factors.