What Causes Diabetic Retinopathy?
The retina is the light-sensitive membrane at the back of the eye. When light enters the eye, the cornea and lens near the front of the eye focus the light onto the retina. The central area of the retina, called the macula, contains hundreds of nerve endings packed closely together. These nerve endings are responsible for the sharpness of the visual image. The retina converts the image into electrical impulses that are carried to the brain by the optic nerve. Therefore, without the retina, the eye cannot communicate with the brain and vision is lost.
Obviously, only diabetics get diabetic retinopathy. The risk of developing diabetic retinopathy increases with the duration of diabetes, about 80% of people with diabetes of more than fifteen years, have some damage to the blood vessels of their retina.
The main risk factors for developing diabetic retinopathy are:
- Uncontrolled diabetes
- Fluctuating blood sugar levels
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Long duration of diabetes
- High blood cholesterol
- Diabetic kidney disease
- Pregnancy
- High serum lipids
- African-American or American Indian ancestry
In this case, with better control of blood sugar levels can slow the onset and progression of retinopathy. The people with diabetes who kept their blood sugar levels as close to normal as possible also had much less kidney and nerve disease. Better control also reduces the need for sight-saving laser surgery.
