Will you go blind?

Diabetes is a complex disease caused by either inability of the body to produce insulin or resistance to available insulin. In diabetes, your body is like a car full of gas but no key; you have the fuel you need, but can’t start using it. Likewise, without sufficient insulin your body cannot utilize the sugar from blood. Diabetes can result into several complications and one of the complications is diabetic eye disease.Diabetic eye disease denotes to a group of sight-threatening eye problems that people with diabetes may develop. Glaucoma is one of these diseases. The longer history of diabetes increases the chances of developing glaucoma. Growing age is another risk factor for glaucoma.
Glaucoma occurs when the intraocular pressure, the normal fluid pressure inside the eyes, increases. The increased pressure can damage the optic nerve, causing vision loss. If glaucoma is left untreated, the result can be complete vision loss. Neovascular glaucoma, a rare form, is definitely associated with diabetes while open-angle glaucoma, is much more common.
Studies show that people with diabetes are twice as likely to develop glaucoma as are non-diabetics. Likewise, for a person with open-angle glaucoma the possibility of developing diabetes are higher than a person without eye disease. Neovascular glaucoma is usually associated with other conditions, mostly diabetes. In cases of diabetic retinopathy, blood vessels on retina are damaged and when retina regrows new vessels, sometimes, they grow on iris (the colored part of the eye). This closes the fluid flow in the eye and raising the eye pressure. Neovascular glaucoma is difficult to treat. However, laser surgery can reduce abnormal blood vessels on the iris and on the retinal surface. Recent studies have also shown some success with the use of drainage implants.
Early detection is the key to treating glaucoma successfully and keeping the disease from worsening. As glaucoma is common with diabetes, people with diabetes should get their eye examined on regular basis. In addition, maintaining glucose control can lower the risk of developing glaucoma.