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| Glaucoma |  People know the facts about diabetes and its life-changing tasks. People know the health complications that diabetes causes. But they are really puzzled when hear that diabetes causes glaucoma. Offered facts and statistics will assure you that you are not at risk for glaucoma. Get to know how diabetes can affect your eyes.
Diabetes impacts over 16 million Americans annually and this staggering number is progressively growing. Did you know that the most common form of diabetes is adult-onset diabetes, or type 2 diabetes? This means that this disease isn’t inherited from great aunt Mildie.
How does diabetes affect your eyes?
Diabetic eye disease is the most common complication of diabetes. It refers to a group of mild threatening eye problems that people with diabetes may develop. Diabetics nearly twice as likely to develop eye complications as other adults who don’t suffer from diabetes.
One of the leading causes of blindness for diabetic patients between the ages of 18-65 years of age is glaucoma. It has been estimated that over 3 million people now have glaucoma, yet only half them actually know that they have it and have been diagnosed. While most people are familiar with the eye disease glaucoma, few are aware of why glaucoma is such a significant threat to sight.
Glaucoma is one of these diseases. Glaucoma is a group of diseases that can cause damage to the eye's optic nerve and even loss of vision. It is characterized by increased fluid pressure inside the eye and because it usually doesn’t have early symptoms, glaucoma is often called “the sneak thief of sight”, as physicians often call it.
During a diabetic’s lifetime, nearly half of the nation’s estimated 16 million of them will develop some degree of diabetic retinopathy, including glaucoma. Approximately 25,000 people go blind yearly and this is all caused by diabetes.
Risk factors for being diagnosed with glaucoma:
- Age – people older than 75
- Central corneal thickness less than 555 microns
- Diabetes
- Family history of glaucoma
- Gender – males are more prone than females
- Race – Africans are more prone than other races
- Strong or high eye pressure
In order to ensure the safety of your eyes, you must protect your eyes. Since eye complications are most common with diabetes, it is very important that diabetics get their eyes examined regularly. The National Eye Institute highly recommends that diabetics get a dilated eye exam at least once a year.
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