Can I Preserve My Vision?

— -- Question: My name is Thomas. I have type 2 diabetes and I was diagnosed in 2006. My question is I have a family history of diabetic eye disease and is there anything I can do to preserve my vision?

Answer: Thomas, that is a very very critical question. Of all the things that people with diabetes have to worry and concerned about, their vision is one of the top most. The good news about that is that if you can continue to maintain excellent control of your diabetes that is the absolute best way to prevent development of any eye problems.

On top of that, we strongly recommend that every person with diabetes see an eye professional, the type of doctor who can put drops in your eyes, dilate the pupils up and look at the blood vessels in the back of your eyes.

That's the best way and quickest way for us to identify what is going on, if there is any diabetic eye problem and that's actually also very amenable to therapy with lasers and other types of treatments.