November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. For the over 10% of the United States population with diabetes, this month serves as a reminder to take care of your health. In particular for diabetics, regular eye exams are essential to maintaining your eyesight.

Because obesity is running ramped, being overweight and often not eating properly has led to an increasing diagnosis of diabetes among young and old alike. According to the American Federation for the Blind, approximately 33% of Americans with Diabetes are unaware they have the disease.

Importance of Eye Exams

Eye care is important for everyone, but for diabetics, vigilance is especially important. If you do have diabetes, the National Institutes of Health recommends annual comprehensive dilated eye exams. While caring for your diabetes in other ways, such as monitoring your blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure are essential, so too is caring for your eyes.

Diabetic eye disease is the leading cause of vision loss among working-age adults. Diabetes impacts the eyes when blood glucose and blood sugar rise to dangerous levels, causing changes in the eye fluid levels, swelling of tissues, and blurry vision. When these levels stay elevated for longer periods of time, the result can be permanent eye damage. While this is common among diabetics, it also happens in those who are prediabetic.

Your eye care team at Bissell Eye Care can help you stay healthy and protect your vision. Because certain conditions can be hard to detect until more serious stages, it is important to have regular eye exams. Seeing your eye doctor regularly can allow them to take note of any changes in your vision.

What Comprehensive Eye Exams Can Uncover?

Comprehensive eye exams can uncover serious conditions like glaucoma, cataracts, and diabetic retinopathy. During these exams, a patient’s eyes are dilated to widen your pupil. This allows the doctors at Bissell eye care to examine your retina more closely. Bissell Eye Care also offers 3-D optic nerve and retinal imaging, which can also help uncover potential unknown eye conditions that would benefit from immediate treatment.

Diabetic retinopathy usually has no symptoms until vision loss occurs, but annual dilated eye exams can identify signs of it. In fact, about 90% of diabetes-related blindness is preventable through early detection, timely treatment and appropriate follow-up care. With all this to consider, do yourself a favor this November and schedule an eye exam at Bissell Eye Care if you’ve not already done so.

About Bissell Eye Care: John D. Bissell, OD owns and operates Bissell Eye Care servicing Northern Pittsburgh and Alle-Kiski Valley regions. With two locations to treat patients, we offer evening and Saturday appointments. Bissell Eye Care provides comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family beginning as early as 6 months, ocular disease detection and treatment, eyeglasses, sunglasses, activewear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. We accept most types of vision and health insurance plans. For more information, visit bisselleyecare.com or call our Bakerstown Office at 724-443-6767 or Natrona Heights office at 724-226-0444.