How can I prevent diabetes from causing blindness?

  This is a happy event for ophthalmologists, endocrinologists and all diabetic patients. The theme of the Eye Care Day on June 6 is “Care for Eye Health, Prevent Diabetic Blindness”, which shows that the prevention and treatment of diabetic eye complications has attracted the attention of the whole society.  As a specialist in fundus disease for more than 20 years, I am happy, but I also have more worries and feel a heavier burden on my shoulders, because there are still many patients who are blind due to advanced diabetic fundus disease and missed the best time for treatment. of fundus lesions have lost the opportunity to save their lives, I can not help but feel heartbroken, at that moment I was thinking, how good I would be if I were a miracle doctor, I must let them see again, so I often admonish myself: “How good it would be if you could solve the disease for the patient without a scalpel”, which is especially important in patients with diabetic retinopathy, as the ancient saying goes. “Doctor”. Therefore, I am writing this article after work, hoping to cause more doctors and patients to pay attention to diabetes, and also expecting their families to give them more them more care, so that they can keep their vision in their lifetime and enjoy a good life with their eyes.  Diabetic retinapathy (DR) is one of the three major blindness-causing diseases in ophthalmology, with an average of 20.5%-46.9%, and the prevalence of DR is 28.5% in the United States and 25% in China. lesions, optic papilledema; as a diabetic patient how do I know if I have a lesion in my fundus? What should I do?  When an endocrinologist has diagnosed diabetes, you should see an ophthalmologist to get his opinion. Generally, the timing of fundus examination for diabetic patients from the date of diagnosis is: within 5 years after diagnosis for those aged 10-30, and once a year thereafter, and once a year for those older than 30; before pregnancy, within 3 months of early pregnancy, and once every 3 months thereafter.  When you go to the ophthalmologist, you should take your blood glucose and glycated hemoglobin results, preferably with a record of your blood glucose monitoring, so that the doctor knows how well you control your blood glucose, which is directly related to the occurrence of your fundus lesions, and based on this result, the doctor will make appropriate recommendations to you. What should you have checked at the ophthalmology department? Visual acuity, corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure, dilated or non-dilated fundus photography, if necessary, the doctor will recommend you to do fundus fluorescence angiography (FFA), this test needs to be accompanied by family members, before doing this test, you need your electrocardiogram, blood tests: routine blood, kidney function results, because the contrast agent needs to be excreted through the kidneys, so patients with serious renal impairment is not recommended to do this test. After these tests, your doctor will evaluate the current condition of your fundus and you will be seen according to his or her recommendations.  What should you do when you already have diabetic fundus lesions? In the non-proliferative phase, we can perform laser photocoagulation of the fundus and take oral calcium hydroxybenzene sulfonate tablets 0.5g, 3 times/daily; but when there is macular edema in the fundus, the edema will be absorbed when the blood sugar is stabilized, but when the edema is very heavy and cannot be absorbed, we have to rely on vitreous cavity injection of lucentis or Abciximab, Compazep or hormone. For macular edema of different degrees, drug injection + fundus laser, drug injection treatment is a proven method; if it develops to advanced stage: proliferative diabetic retinopathy, causing retinal detachment, neovascular glaucoma, etc., then it will seriously affect your vision or blindness, and you have to perform vitrectomy surgery. Therefore, we advise all sugar lovers to see an ophthalmologist when they discover diabetes, so that he can make a reasonable time for you to check the fundus of the eye and preserve the bright world in front of us.