This is in no way meant to frighten you. But you must realize that unless you are careful about managing your diabetes, this could happen to you.

If you have diabetes this does not necessarily mean that your sight will be affected, but there is a higher risk. If your diabetes is well controlled then you are less likely to have problems, or they may remain at a mild level.

Although giant strides have been made in the treatment of diabetic retinopathy, the best treatment still remains "prevention" and even if one cannot completely avoid getting the retinal complications, one can definitely slow down its progression, so that it never reaches a level serious enough to cause "blindness"!

But a large part in saving your eyes lies in your hands!

Before, we discuss these aspects, let us first understand what is diabetic retinopathy.

Diabetic retinopathy is a general term for all disorders of the retina caused by diabetes. This is commonest complication of diabetes to do with the eyes. It is a progressive disease that destroys capillaries (the smallest blood vessels linking arteries to veins) in the eye by depositing an abnormal material along the walls of the tiny blood vessels in the retina. Blurred vision and often blindness follow.