Diabetes Linked To Poor Eyesight?
We’ve all heard the stories of diabetes becoming more and more of a problem in our society. According to the most recent year data is available (2007 National Diabetes Fact Sheet), 23.6 million children and adults in the United States – 7.8% of the population – have diabetes.
But did you know that diabetes can poorly affect your vision as well?
According to a recent article in the Kansas City Star, vision problems are worsening at an alarming rate due to an aging U.S. population and diabetes growing to near-epidemic proportions.
Researchers at Chicago’s Prevent Blindness America Program expect that the number of Americans with significant vision loss will double to 50 million by the year 2030.
You may be asking, “How can diabetes lead to poor vision?”
Diabetes, as you may know, is when the body either fails to produce insulin, the hormone that regulates your metabolism (Type 1 diabetes) or- even more common- the failure of the body to use insulin properly to take glucose from the blood (Type 2 diabetes).
High blood glucose over a prolonged period of time (often due to a combination of a poor diet and genetics) causes glucose absorption, which leads to changes in the shape of the lenses of the eyes, resulting in vision changes. However, a sustained sensible glucose control usually returns the lens to its original shape.
Blurred vision is a common complaint leading to a diabetes diagnosis; type 1 should always be suspected in cases of rapid vision change, whereas with type 2 change is generally more gradual, but should still be suspected.
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