Diabetic retinopathy (DR): everybody's business

Abstract

Diabetes is on the increase worldwide, due mainly to the rise in the number of people with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is becoming more common because:* People are living longer, and diabetes is more prevalent in older people.* As people increasingly migrate to urban areas, exercise less, eat more, and eat less healthy food, more people are becoming obese – a primary cause of type 2 diabetes.Diabetes increases the risk of a range of eye diseases, including cataract, but the main cause of blindness associated with diabetes is diabetic retinopathy (DR). DR usually develops between ten and twenty years after the onset of diabetes, and develops faster when diabetes is undiagnosed and untreated.People with DR whose sight is at risk can be treated, most commonly with laser, to prevent visual impairment and blindness. Sadly, there is no treatment that can restore vision that has already been lost.

Keywords

• Diabetic Retinopathy
• Diabetes Mellitus