Retinopathy or Eye disease

This is drawing of an eye This is drawing of an eye. The important things in diabetes, are the retina and the optic nerve.

This is a normal eye The optic nerve and the retina are on the left side of this picture. The retina is the “seeing” part of the eye. Can you see that the blood vessels and capillaries are very sharp, bright and clear to see? Lesson plan Talk the class through the main structures of the fundus, asking them to contribute in their own words

This is the 1st stage of eye disease called Early Background Retinopathy When you have had diabetes for over 10 years it can be common to have small changes on your retina. These are called micro-aneurysms which are weakened blood vessel walls (they are the small dots around the small blood vessels). Also sometimes small amounts of bleeding or haemorrhages from the blood vessels can happen which look like blots. But, you would still have normal vision, and unless you had photos taken you wouldn’t realise you had early changes to your blood vessels Lesson plan Encourage description

This is the dangerous stage called pre-proliferative retinopathy You can see more damage with dots and spots, and also white areas which is leakage of fluid and fats (called exudates) from the blood vessels. This is because with blood vessel walls are weakened and damaged. You can see some of the blood vessels are enlarged and thick, which means there is a poor blood supply to the retina. This stage is sight threatening if another bleed happened. Again, this might not be causing a change in vision so unless an eye photo had been taken, the person may not realise the dangerous situation. Lesson plan As previous slide

The end stage is called proliferative retinopathy You can new blood vessels growing which are the squiggly lines. This happens as the eye tries to grow new vessels to provide a blood supply to the retina cells. The new vessels are fragile and weak, and prone to bleeding. This is very dangerous and needs laser treatment to prevent anymore bleeding. Laser treatment is a very good treatment and works well if it given early. Lesson plan As previous slide

These are photos to show you how your vision could be affected usually at the Pre and Proliferative Retinopathy stages Normal Vision Blurring and loss of the centre of vision sometimes happens which is called maculopathy Dark patches increase as retinopathy increases Diabetes UK 2009

How do we screen your eyes? Every year you should have digital eye photography test. This is called Fundoscopy, and it is a photo of your retina and the blood vessels. You also have a reading examination which tests your macula or your close up vision. This is essential to have done. As you can see, you can’t tell if you have small changes to your eyes until it is too late and you will need treatment. If you are tested every year, things can be done to stop retinopathy developing so that it damages your vision.

This is why having a yearly test with digital camera is essential. ***Important*** 1. Retinopathy can affect anyone with diabetes, and it develops over years. 2. You can have retinopathy which will stay stable for years and not effect your vision. 3. Often vision isn’t affected until the late stages. 4. There are things you can do to prevent it. 5. Laser treatment is very effective if retinopathy is found early. This is why having a yearly test with digital camera is essential.