A common complication of diabetes is damage to the ‘seeing’ part of the eye.
This is called diabetic retinopathy and if not treated it can lead to blindness. Indeed retinopathy is one of the most common causes of blindness among people of working age in the UK.
Everyone who has diabetes is invited for free eye screening every year to check for diabetic retinopathy.
Your annual screening checks are essential because often there are no symptoms until it is well advanced. In fact people with retinopathy may not even be aware of changes to the retina until their vision has been permanently damaged.
During retinal screening a picture of your retina is photographed using a special digital camera. This is then sent to a specialist who will look for any changes that need to be treated.
If you do not need any treatment it’s still important to keep attending your screening appointments each year.
For more information about the treatments for diabetic retinopathy visit the Diabetes UK website.