Uncontrolled diabetes can wreak havoc on health in many ways, including eye health.

All types of diabetes increase the risk of developing eye diseases including diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, glaucoma, and cataracts. When these diseases all go under the umbrella term “diabetic eye disease,” it means diabetes is one of the world’s leading causes of blindness.

The Types of Diabetes

All three types of diabetes impact eye health even though they don’t work the same way. Type 1 is typically diagnosed early in life. When the pancreas cannot produce insulin, that’s type 1 diabetes. Up to 95% of diabetes cases are type 2, typically diagnosed decades into adulthood. In type 2 diabetes, the body is unable to efficiently use insulin to regulate blood sugar. Some pregnant women are affected by gestational diabetes, which behaves like type 2 diabetes but is temporary.

Increased Risk of Cataracts With Diabetes

Diabetics are five times more likely to develop cataracts. High blood sugar can make the lens of the eye swell and accumulate opaque proteins until it becomes cloudy. Vision loss due to cataracts is reversible with modern cataract-removal surgery, however, so the effects don’t have to be permanent.

Diabetic Retinopathy and Macular Edema

When blood sugar is high, so is the blood’s acidity, and this can cause actual damage to blood vessels. In the eyes, this creates a major problem in the delicate capillaries that nourish the retinas. When those capillaries weaken enough to begin leaking blood into the eye (creating the symptom of dark blotches or floaters across the field of vision), this is diabetic retinopathy. The body tries to fix this by growing new blood vessels, but the new vessels are unstable and more likely to leak.

10% of diabetic retinopathy cases will eventually develop into diabetic macular edema (DME), which is the buildup of fluid in the macula (the area of the retina that gives us our central vision). This creates distortions and washes out the colors and may require surgical treatment to restore normal vision.

Glaucoma Is More Likely With Diabetes

It may surprise you to learn that the fluid in our eyes doesn’t just stay there for our entire lives. It exists in a cycle to constantly replace and replenish it — an essential part of eye health. Glaucoma is the result of the cycle being interrupted. Pressure builds against the optic nerve and causes permanent damage, including blindness. Diabetics are more susceptible to glaucoma, and the symptoms aren’t always obvious. The best way to catch it early is with regular eye exams!

Eye Exams Protect Your Eyesight!

Yearly eye exams are key to early diagnosis and treatment for sight-threatening conditions, and they’re particularly important for anyone at high risk, like people with diabetes. Some sight-threatening conditions are irreversible but they can at least be slowed and controlled when we catch them early. Managing diabetes is also essential. If the blood sugar remains as close to normal as possible, diabetes can’t put eye health in as much danger, and the risk remains at levels similar to people without diabetes.

You next eye exam could save your life! Uncontrolled diabetes can wreak havoc on your health if left unchecked. Call or Text us at 219-659-3050 today!

Eye color is one of the first traits we notice when we meet someone new.

If you’ve ever met someone with two different colored eyes, then you’ve seen what heterochromia looks like. Only three out of every five hundred people have it, though, so it’s not that common (but you might have seen an odd-eyed cat or dog). Heterochromia happens in a few different ways and has a few different causes.

Genetic Versus Traumatic Heterochromia

In most cases, heterochromia is the simple result of unusual genetics, a harmless mutation changing the way the pigment develops in one or part of one iris. There are a few famous examples in movies and TV, such as Dominic Sherwood and Anthony Head, who both have blue eyes with a brown patch in one, and Josh Henderson and Alice Eve, who each have one blue eye and one green.

Even people who aren’t born with heterochromia can still develop it as the side effect of injury or disease. Surgery or trauma can cause a change in the appearance of one eye. David Bowie was a famous example of this due to his one permanently dilated pupil. Diseases like diabetes, eye tumors, or glaucoma can also affect the appearance of one eye differently than the other. This is the case for Mila Kunis, who suffered eye inflammation in one iris for years.

The Types of Heterochromia

Heterochromia comes in a few varieties, as we’ve already hinted at with our celebrity examples. It can be complete heterochromia, segmental, or central. Complete heterochromia (or heterochromia iridum) is where each iris is a different color. Segmental heterochromia (heterochromia iridis) is where a patch of a different color appears in one iris.

The most common form of heterochromia, central heterochromia, is where the two irises match each other but have rings of a different color around the pupils — such as when someone has green eyes but a thin ring of hazel around the middle. The results aren’t quite as instantly striking as mismatched eyes, but they still look pretty cool.

Mismatched Eyes in Culture

Different cultures have interpreted heterochromia in different ways throughout the ages. Eastern European pagans believed that being born with different colored eyes meant they had witch eyes. Some Native American cultures, meanwhile, believed it meant the person had “ghost eyes” with the ability to see into heaven and earth.

Whatever Their Color(s), Let Us Take a Look at Your Eyes!

If you weren’t born with heterochromia but have noticed a change in the color of one or both of your eyes, it’s a good idea to schedule an appointment so that we can take a look and find out the cause. If it’s an untreated side-effect from an injury or a symptom of a health condition, we can help!

Our patients have beautiful, unique eyes!