In most cases, diabetic eye problems arise even before the diagnosis of diabetes. In people with uncontrolled diabetes, and poorly controlled diabetes, the incidence of diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma is high.
Diabetes and eyes – Glaucoma
What is glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a set of eye disorders that arise due to damage of optic nerve. Since the optic nerve carries electrical impulses to the brain to be interpreted as vision, glaucoma is a serious diabetic eye problem that can cause irreversible vision loss.
When stress and pressure tend to damage the optic nerve, it leads to progressive and irreversible damage to the optic nerve and effects the peripheral vision of a person affected by glaucoma.
In glaucoma, there is high pressure inside the eye with high intraocular pressure and is called as ocular hypertension. This condition, when left untreated, leads to blindness.
Types of Glaucoma
Glaucoma occurs in many types. These include:
- Primary open-angle glaucoma
- Angle-closure glaucoma
- Normal tension glaucoma
- Secondary glaucoma
- Pigmentary glaucoma
- Pseudoexfoliative glaucoma
- Neovascular glaucoma
- Congenital glaucoma
- Irido-corneal endothelial glaucoma
Glaucoma affects the peripheral vision in the initial stages and the central vision in the later stages. In the initial stages of glaucoma, there is defect in the wide-angle field of vision. This means that though a person can see objects in the front, objects in the side tend to be foggy. This is akin to tunnel vision.
In the later stages, vision in the center also tend to become foggy.
Diabetic eye problem – Glaucoma symptoms
People with glaucoma do not have any change in their vision until the disease progresses. Poorly controlled diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems and other conditions tend to increase the progression of glaucoma. As the disease progresses, they tend to experience certain symptoms.
Glaucoma symptoms
- Decrease in peripheral vision
- Decrease in visual acuity
- Blurred vision
- Hazy vision
- Headache and eye pain
- Sudden vision loss
- Nausea and vomiting
