Diabetes affects almost 2 million people in the UK and it is estimated that 1 million more people have the condition but don’t even realise it.  Often the first indiciation that someone is suffering with diabetes is a sight problem.

Put simply, diabetes is the inability of your body to breakdown the food that you eat into usable components.  Normally food is broken down into smaller parts in your digestive system.  One of these parts is glucose, a simple sugar.  When glucose enters your cells it is burned to provide energy.

People with diabetes have difficulty moving glucose from the bloodstream into the cells resulting in a back up of glucose.  As a result, two things can happen - your body does not get the energy it needs to function, and the extra sugar in the blood stream can cause problems elsewhere in the body.

There are two types of diabetes, that which is treated with insulin and late onset which can be controlled by diet or tablets.  Doctors believe that the growing risk of diabetes (especially in children) is due to obesity, lack of exercise and high sugar diets.

The main symptons of diabetes are increased thirst and extreme tiredness plus excessive urination, especially at night.  Weight loss and blurred vision can also be signs.

Eye complications related to diabetes are the leading cause of vision loss in men and women between the ages of 25 and 75 years old.  Diabetes can cause many long-term problems for almost every part of the body including kidney disease, nerve disease, heart disease, stroke, blindness and other problems with the eyes, skin, feet, gums, kidneys and heart.  As for the eyes, diabetes sometimes causes the focusing ability of the eye to flucturate day to day or to weaken, but it can also cause more serious changes such as diabetic retinopathy.

YOUR OPTOMETRIST CAN HELP - more often than not your optometrist is the first person to suspect diabetes in a person because they can see the changes it causes in the eye or sight.  Once diagnosed your optometrist is able to work with your GP to monitor the progress of the disease and its effects.  This will be done by examining in detail changes in the appearance of the retina at the back of the eye.

You should visit your optician if one or both of your eyes hurt or you feel a pressure in your eye.  Also if you cannot see things at the side like you used to or you have trouble reading or your sight is blurred, you have double vision or see spots or floaters.