Diabetic retinopathy occurs when uncontrolled high blood sugar damages the blood vessels supplying oxygen to the retina. This leads to retinal damage and decreasing vision. Anyone with diabetes is at risk for developing diabetic retinopathy. The longer a person has diabetes, the greater their chance of developing diabetic retinopathy. It is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world and in Egypt.
Diabetes damages the retina in two ways.
Proliferative diabetic retinopathy may lead to any one of the following:
In the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, the blood vessels in the eye leak, causing swelling of the retina. For decades, this swelling has been treated with retinal laser, which has been shown to slow the progression of vision loss. Recently, ophthalmologists have also been injecting anti-leakage medicines into the eye. These medicines include steroids such as triamcinolone acetate and anti-vascular endothelial growth factors (anit-VEGF) such as Avastin or Lucentis. In combination with laser, these injections have been shown to reduce retinal swelling and improve vision loss.