Diabetes manifests itself throughout the body and can cause kidney failure, heart disease, and blindness. While diabetes can affect many parts of the eye, its mostcommon manifestation takes the form of diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy affects the retina, the light-sensitive tissue that lines the eye's back wall. Background retinopathy can be a precursor to the more serious proliferative retinopathy. This condition is usually not sight-threatening, but it can be a warning sign of further damage and should be monitored carefully.
Proliferative retinopathy begins when areas of the retina no longer receive sufficient blood supply.
The blood-starved tissue then produces molecules that stimulate the growth of new vessels near the surface of the retina. These delicate vessels can break and leak blood into the vitreous, the clear fluid that fills the eye's main chamber. When the vitreous is clouded, light cannot pass through to the retina and images become either distorted or blocked. Retinal detachment may occur if the scar tissue that forms around the leaking blood vessels pulls the retina away from the back wall of the eye. In addition, other eye problems like glaucoma can occur with severe cases of diabetic retinopathy.