Diabetes, retinopathy and Laser eye surgery:

In the whole world diabetes has become a major disease, 2 decades back it was a not a very major reason of eye related troubles but now it has become one of the major contributors as far as eye related issues are concerned. Following are the main reasons of diabetes,

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->               Genetic

->               Improper food which is full of carbohydrate and fat

->               Lazy life style in which there is no room for walking, workouts or exercises

->               Obesity

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Diabetes can affect both, youth and elderly persons. Second one ie diabetes in elderly persons aging more than 45 yrs is more common. Whichever type of diabetes is there, there is one common problem that develops in these patients, this is known as diabetic retinopathy. In this disease, there occur certain changes in nerves inside eyeball due which there develops a reduced capability of clear vision. This is a silent disease and most of the times patients are unable to identify the disease by themselves.

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In Diabetes, most common problem is diabetic retinopathy, other problems being cataract and glaucoma. Early identification of disease and due care and treatment in time reduces the chances of complete lack of vision. The diabetic retinopathy starts creating more problems only when it has come to a certain developed stage, only an ophthalmologist can understand the initial stages of this disease, thus the patients of diabetes must have a thorough eye check-up each six months.

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To know whether a diabetic person is suffering from diabetic retinopathy or some other eye disorder, methods such as slit lamp, ultrasound, and fluorescein angiography are used, apart from it, ophthalmoscope is also used.

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Fluorescein angiography :

In this method, a color is poured with injection and enlarged and detailed views/pictures are recorded, this helps in ascertaining the stage of diabetic retinopathy and to know the changes occurring in the blood veins. All this helps in deciding the treatment to be taken and to follow up on the treatment taken.

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Treatment :  

Lasers are being used quite nicely in treating this disorder. A Laser is a very powerful and high-energy light beam, which if used adequately and effectively, can retard the growth of retinopathy and can eventually stop the disorder. This can improve the vision and gives the stability of vision.

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While giving a Laser treatment, a local anesthesia is given to the patient so that he may feel relaxed while treatment is given, this ensures that the patient is active but he does not feel anything in the treatment area. Then he is sit in front of a stable lamp and the ophthalmologist or the laser expert focuses the laser beam on those areas, which are affected. This is done with the help of slit lamp and special contact lens. Due to absorption of the diseased tissues the bleeding stops the retina recovers to its normal shape. Treatment can be repeated as per status of the vision of the patient.

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Laser eye surgery can stabilize the vision but it cannot improve much the capability of vision, so early detection and treatment is key to getting rid of the disorder.