Your retinal screening appointment can identify problems with your sight before you’ve even noticed they’re there. Spotting problems early can quite literally save your sight.
Losing your sight due to serious complications with your eyes – diabetic retinopathy – can have a huge impact on your life. It could affect your career, your family life and your independence.
Early signs of diabetic retinopathy are very hard to spot. Often, it’s once the damage has become serious that a person with retinopathy will realise something is wrong.
Everyone with diabetes should receive regular appointments for an eye screen. Early signs of diabetic retinopathy are very hard
to spot.
But if eye complications do start to develop, they can nearly always be treated to avoid long-term problems – as long as they’re spotted and diagnosed in time.
That’s why going to your eye screening appointments is so vital. Everyone with diabetes should receive regular appointments for an eye screen; the frequency of these appointments depends on your type of diabetes, and the results of your previous screen.
At your appointment you may receive drops that dilate your pupils, and a photograph will be taken of your retinas. A specialist called a retinal grader, alongside an ophthalmologist, will then assess these photographs and grade them depending on the condition of blood vessels and of your macular (the seeing part of your retina).
The results – or grades – that you get will inform what happens next.
The most important thing to remember is that the earlier problems are spotted, the earlier treatment can start, and the best chance you’ll have for a positive outcome.
To find out more about retinal screening, and what steps you can take to look after your eyes between screenings, please visit: www.diabetes.org.uk/retinopathy
