DIABETES AND YOUR EYES
Diabetes can damage the back of the eye for years without any change in your vision. By the time you notice, some of the sight may not come back. A yearly eye check finds it early, when treatment works best.
We control the sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol that drive it, and send you to a retina specialist for the eye examination and treatment.
The retina is the thin layer at the back of the eye that sees. It is fed by very small blood vessels. High sugar over many years weakens these vessels. They leak fluid and blood, and later the eye grows new, fragile vessels that bleed easily.
When the leak reaches the centre of the retina, the part you read with, it is called diabetic macular oedema. This is the most common reason people with diabetes lose reading vision.
Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in working-age adults. Most of that loss can be avoided by finding it early.
| Who | First eye check | After that |
|---|---|---|
| Type 2 diabetes | At the time of diagnosis. The diabetes may have been there for years before it was found | Every year |
| Type 1 diabetes | Within 5 years of diagnosis | Every year |
| Pregnant, or planning a pregnancy, with diabetes | Before pregnancy or in the first three months | Each trimester, and up to a year after delivery |
| Retinopathy already found | Already done | As often as the eye doctor asks, sometimes every few months |
If two eye checks in a row are normal and your sugar is well controlled, the eye doctor may space them to every two years. That is the eye doctor's decision, not yours.
Diabetes in pregnancy that starts only in pregnancy (gestational diabetes) does not need these eye checks.
We do not examine the retina at Caspian. We refer you to Dr. Mohammed Musaab Mohiuddin, retina specialist at Eye Care Secunderabad Eye Hospital, and we stay in touch about the findings.
The examination is painless. Drops are put in to widen the pupil, so the doctor can see the whole retina. Some patients also have a retinal photograph or a scan of the centre of the retina (OCT).
Plan for the drops. They take about half an hour to work, and your vision stays blurred and sensitive to light for a few hours afterwards. Do not drive or ride home yourself. Bring someone with you and a pair of sunglasses.
Treatment is decided and given by the retina specialist. The main options are:
Treatment works best before vision is lost. It protects the sight you still have more reliably than it brings back sight already lost.
The eye doctor treats the eye. We treat what is damaging it.
Our diabetologist keeps your eye report in your file, and the eye check is part of the yearly review list on our diabetes care guide.
Go to an eye hospital the same day if you have:
Blurring that comes and goes when your sugar changes is common and usually settles once the sugar is steady. Mention it at your next visit.
If you have diabetes and have not had a dilated eye check in the last year, book a visit and we will arrange the referral. Bring your last eye report if you have one.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Khizer Hussain Junaidy, Diabetologist & Bariatric Physician, Telangana State Medical Council 04937. Last reviewed 11 October 2026. General information for patients of Caspian Healthcare: your own doctor's advice comes first.