If you have diabetes, you need to pay particularly close attention to your eyesight.
Diabetes can lead to retinopathy, a condition that damages the retina and leads to blindness.
The retina can be badly damaged before any changes in vision are noticed, so early detection is crucial. Only a special examination can find the early states of retinopathy. A community in South Dakota went to extraordinary lengths to get people with diabetes to their annual eye exams. After data from The Wellmark Report found that only 8 percent of people with diabetes in Pierre, South Dakota, were having annual retinal exams, the St. Mary s Foundation, working with the Pierre Area Health Coalition, began a project that helped raise the annual retinal exam rate to 25 percent. St. Mary s Foundation found that many people with diabetes in Pierre weren t getting their exams because they weren t able to afford them.