Diabetes Mellitus is divided into two groups:
Type-I Diabetes, which begins adolescence and can only be controlled with insulin therapy.
Type-II Diabetes, which usually occurs in adults and can be controlled with diet, medication and insulin therapy
Diabetic Retinopathy is a complication of diabetes mellitus which affects the vision. This happens when high blood sugar levels cause damage to blood vessels in the retina. These blood vessels can swell and leak. Or they can close, stopping blood from passing through. Sometimes abnormal, new blood vessels grow on the retina. Diabetic retinopathy is the largest cause of blindness in the working age population. It can be prevented by regular eye examination and early diagnosis
How many Diabetic Retinopathy patients are in the world?
According to WHO, there are 422 million adults with diabetes. Estimatedly some form of Diabetic Retinopathy is prevalent in one third of these patients. It is very difficult to screen every single patient suffering from diabetes using conventional methodsĀ of dilated ophthalmoscopy. It is expected that the rate of vision loss due to Diabetic Retinopathy will increase gradually in the coming years due to both the lack of resources and the lack of awareness about the disease.
Stages of Diabetic Retinopathy?
Diabetic Retinopathy disease consists of two stages. The early stage of diabetic retinopathy is referred to as nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy and the last stage is proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Bleeding is also observed in the form of leakage in diabetic patients who are at an early stage. When the disease has progressed to the severe stage, new vessels are formed, and these vessels also cause more bleeding.