Diabetes: The first signs your eyes might be warning you about diabetes

Often, your eyes can reveal more about your overall health than you expect, and sometimes even before other physical symptoms occur. For example, diabetes, in particular, can silently affect your eyes long - before your blood sugars are high enough to reflect problems elsewhere in the body. Knowing these warning signs can be very useful to alert you to diabetes early and could prevent visual loss that is not reversible.

One of the first signs that your eyes may be alerting you to diabetes is blurry vision. If your blood sugars fluctuate, the lenses of your eyes can swell from these fluid shifts. This swelling cascades into a temporary change in shape in the lens but leads to significant difficulty focusing. Many think they simply need a new prescription and may feel there is nothing wrong with their vision but only are experiencing an early sign of unstable blood sugar.

If you are experiencing frequent changes in vision, with some times clearer, other times hazy, the issue may lie in your blood glucose levels affecting the eye's capability of focusing. Most people experience these types of fluctuations in vision, making it difficult to find the proper eyeglass prescription, and can indicate early stages of diabetes/ prediabetes.

If you are seeing floaters in your vision, dark spots, or flashes of light, this can indicate damage to the tiny blood vessels within the retina, known as diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy arises from prolonged periods of high blood sugar, leading to weakening of the retinal blood vessels and leakage or bleeding. Mild retinopathy can cause no change in vision and it can accumulate silent damage ultimately leading to blindness. Eye floaters in diabetic can be due to bleeding the eye condition called as vitreous hemorrhage, a late stage complication of diabetes.

Diabetes raises the risk of glaucoma, which is caused by high pressure in the eye. The patient may have discomfort, redness, or halos around lights. When left untreated, glaucoma progressively damages the optic nerve and gradually decreases vision. Glaucoma often occurs without symptoms until the late stages, creating a delay in care for the patient.

Trouble seeing at night or in dim light can be another sign. High blood sugar can damage light-sensitive cells in the retina and cause trouble adjusting to low light levels. This symptom can be missed but may become apparent when driving at night or moving from bright light to dim light.

Diabetes can slow your body's healing response due to poor circulation. If you notice slow healing with physical wounds or infections, frequent styes, or redness around your eyes, you may have elevated blood sugar, which may not be under control.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, it is important to schedule an eye examination. Your eye doctor may see evidence of eye damage caused by diabetes during a dilated eye examination and sometimes before you are even diagnosed with diabetes.
Your eyes are not only the windows to your soul, they are the windows to your health. Most changes that happen to delay eye health are early warnings of diabetes. Paying attention to these warning signs and receiving regular eye care input can lead to early detection, improved blood sugar levels, and prevent severe eye diseases like diabetic retinopathy, optical nerve damage, and glaucoma. Early detection is the best strategy to intervene and protect your sight.
Dr. Pawan Gupta, Senior Cataract & Retina Surgeon, Eye 7 Hospital Lajpat Nagar & Vision Eye Clinic New Delhi