Good blood sugar control is the most important step you can take. Retinopathy Retinopathy is a devastating complication of diabetes that can lead to blindness. Retinopathy is the term for damage to the retina, the area at the back of the eye that records images and converts them into signals to be sent to the brain. The risk of diabetic retinopathy increases with the number of years a person has had diabetes, and how well he or she controls their blood sugar. Promising research indicates that taking supplements, including vitamins that are known anti-oxidants, lipoic acid, and bilberry, may also help slow or prevent this serious condition.
Diabetic retinopathy begins with damage to the blood vessels in the eye.
Leakage from capillaries is one of the first signs, followed by swelling, blockage of vessels, and small hemorrhages. This stage is called background retinopathy. If swelling occurs in the region of the macula, the most sensitive part of the retina, the resulting loss of vision may be serious and possibly permanent. In some cases, background retinopathy goes on to become proliferative retinopathy. In this condition, the retina forms more blood vessels to compensate for lack of oxygen, unfortunately, these tiny new vessels bleed easily, leading to scars that can distort the retina, sometimes pulling it from the back of the eye.