Diagnosing Diabetic Retinopathy

While there may be no symptoms experienced by the individual early on,  diagnosing diabetic retinopathy in the beginning stage is imperative. Through a dilated eye exam, your eye care specialist can detect, diagnose, and offer treatment for diabetic retinopathy; and the earlier, the better.

Detection for Individuals

There is no pain or noticeable symptoms in the early stage of diabetic retinopathy. If you have diabetes, do your part in diagnosing diabetic retinopathy by having a comprehensive dilated eye exam at least once per year. Waiting until symptoms appear may damage your vision and could result in blindness. As advance retinopathy may develop at any time, if you notice the following, contact your eye care specialist without delay:

  • Specks of blood in your vision: This may appear to be “spots” or “floating” spots in  your vision.
  • Blurred vision: Possibly the first sign of diabetic retinopathy.

Diagnosing Diabetic Retinopathy by Your Eye Care Specialist

Through a series of tests, your eye care specialist is able to diagnose diabetic retinopathy. The common tests for detecting retinopathy and macular edema include:

  1. The Visual Acuity Test: This is a common vision test, often known as the“big E” test. Measuring your vision at various distances, you will be asked to read a chart displaying letters and characters, one eye at a time. The letters and characters are printed black on a white background, and become smaller in size as you near the bottom of the chart to represent vision at increased distance.
  2. Dilated Eye Exam: For your dilated eye exam, drops are placed into your eye, causing the pupil of the eye to dilate or widen. With this widened pupil, your eye care specialist is able to examine the optic nerve and retina located at the back of the eye. This exam is crucial in eye disease detection. Following your dilated eye exam, expect your vision to be blurred for several hours.
  3. Tonometry: Preformed through various methods, the tonometry test will examine the pressure behind your eye. The non‐invasive method is commonly referred to as the “puff” test. A puff of air is blown (very quickly) at the eye, as the air encounters the eye, light reflections are measured while the air bounces off the eye, providing data measuring the pressure behind the eye.
  4. Fluorescein Angiogram: This test may be given if your eye care specialist suspects macular edema. In this test a dye is injected into your arm, reaching the blood stream and begins to travel  through your body. As this dye travels, reaching the tiny blood vessels in your eye (including the possible newly formed abnormal blood vessels), a light is reflected into your eye, activating the dye. Photos are quickly taken to capture the images of the blood vessels inside your eye. The dye will reveal leaking of blood vessels, and to what extent. As the dye is in your blood stream and light sensitive, you will be asked to avoid bright lights of a few days while the dye subsides in your body.

Retina Exam and What Your Eye Care Specialist is Looking For:

During the dilated eye exam your eye care specialist will be looking for sings of diabetic retinopathy and macular edema. These signs include:

  1. Leaking Blood Vessels: Leaking occurs when newly developed, weak, abnormal blood vessels form.
  2. Swelling of the Retina: Protein and fluid deposits under the macula cause swelling to the retina. (Macular Edema)
  3. Signs of Leaking Blood Vessels: Fatty, pale deposits on the retina
  4. Damage to Nerve Tissue: Commonly this tissue is damaged as a result in abnormal blood flow.
  5. Abnormal Changes to the Blood Vessels: The presence or development of new, weak, abnormal blood vessels, including clogged or blocked blood vessels.