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Maria Flores
RHB 325- 001
Professor Munro
February 16, 2010
Learning Activity 3

Diabetic Retinopathy is damage to the blood cells in the retina and it is most common
type of Diabetic eye diseases.

Diabetic Retinopathy is also the most common leading cause of blindness in American
adults.

There are two ways that Diabetic Retinopathy may occur. Some of the individuals with
Diabetic Retinopathy may experience the blood vessels swelling and leaking fluid.
Others may have new and irregular blood vessels grow on the retina they then leak into
the center of they which then causes blurred vision.

Diabetic Retinopathy has a period of four stages increasing with severity in each stage.
The first stage is Mild Nonproliferative Retinopathy, second is Moderate Nonproliferative
Retinopathy, third is Severe Nonproliferative Retinopathy, and the last stage is
Proliferative Retinopathy.

In the last stage of Diabetic Retinopathy the blood vessels themselves do not cause the
blood leaking and vision loss but since the blood vessels are so fragile and have thin
walls they can easily abrupt which then causes the blood to leak in the eye and therefore
may either result in blurred vision or complete blindness.

Individuals that are most affected by Diabetic Retinopathy would be those who have type
one and two Diabetes.

About 40-45 % of the population that has Diabetes is in one of the four stages of
Diabetic Retinopathy.
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
Those who have diabetes are highly encouraged to have a complete dilated eye exam
each year to prevent or detect early.

Doctors can recommend treatment to prevent the progression of Diabetic Retinopathy.

In the first stages of Diabetic Retinopathy there is no pain or symptoms.

At first the individual will only see spots of blood in their vision and if they do not treat
then the spots may clear on their own but once the eye has another hemorrhage the
spots will come back until eventually complete blindness will occur or severe vision loss.

There is no treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy but to prevent from the disease to
progress even more the individual should try control levels of blood sugar, blood
pressure, and blood cholesterol.

In the fourth stage of Diabetic Retinopathy laser surgery is used for treatment which is
called Scatter laser treatment.

Usually two sessions of this treatment are required seeing that the doctor must position
one to two thousand laser burns in the area of the retina to shrink the abnormal blood
vessels.

However if the bleeding of the blood vessels is too severe then there will a need for a
surgical procedure called a vitrectomy during this process blood is removed from the
center of the eye.

Both of Scatter laser treatment and vitrectomy are very successful in treating Diabetic
Retinopathy but do not cure it.

If some vision is already lost due to Diabetic Retinopathy best advice is to ask eye care
physician about low vision devices and services to receive the highest standard of the
remaining vision.

The National Eye Institute (NEI) is currently seeking better ways to prevent, treat and
cure vision loss in people who have Diabetes. One example of the research they are
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conducting is studying drugs that will prevent the retina from sending signals to the body
to create new blood vessels.

Here are some helpful Eye Care Organizations

American Diabetes Association
ATTN: National Call Center
1701 North Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22311
(800) 342-2383
AskADA@diabetes.org
http://www.diabetes.org/home.jsp
• American Diabetes Association Hours of operation are Monday - Friday, 8:30 AM-8 PM
Eastern Standard Time. The American Diabetes Association funds research, publishes scientific
findings, provides information and other services to people with diabetes, their families, health
professionals and the public. Contact ADA for diabetes-related questions or to request a
diabetes information packet. Spanish language consumer website.

EyeCare America
655 Beach St.
San Francisco, CA 94109-1336
1-877-887-6327
1-800-222-3937
http://www.eyecareamerica.org/eyecare/
• EyeCare America provides comprehensive eye exams and care for up to one year, often at
no out-of-pocket expense to eligible callers through its Seniors and Diabetes EyeCare
Programs. Its Glaucoma EyeCare Program provides a glaucoma eye exam. The EyeCare
America Children’s EyeCare Program educates parents and primary care providers about the
importance of early childhood (newborn through 36 months of age) eye care and offers a free
downloadable educational brochure. EyeCare America is a public service foundation of the
American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).

National Eye Institute (NEI)
National Institutes of Health
31 Center Drive MSC 2510
Bethesda, MD 20892-2510
(301) 496-5248
http://www.nei.nih.gov
• Conducts and supports research on eye diseases and vision disorders. Offers free
publications for the general public and patients.
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