Understanding Diabetic Eye Disease
Managing your diabetes can help keep your eyes healthy!
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Transcript
DR. RODGERS: Managing your diabetes can help keep your eyes healthy!
Hi, I’m Dr. Griffin Rodgers, director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH.
My colleague, Dr. Michael Chiang, director of the National Eye Institute, explains.
DR. CHIANG: Diabetic eye disease refers to a set of problems linked with diabetes. These include diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and cataracts, and they can cause blindness. Symptoms may include blurry or wavy vision, dark areas or vision loss, and poor color perception.
Luckily, the steps to manage or delay diabetes can also keep your eyes healthy. So monitor and manage your blood glucose, your blood pressure, and your cholesterol. If you smoke, get help to quit. And see your eye doctor for dilated eye exams each year.
So remember, there’s a lot you can do to keep your eyes healthy and to protect your vision.
DR. RODGERS: Follow us @NIDDKgov. This is Dr. Griffin Rodgers.