Diabetes is a complex disease resulting from the inability of the body to produce insulin, a hormone that takes sugar out of the blood and into cells where it can be used for energy. Without enough insulin, there is too much sugar in your blood.

If you have diabetes, you probably already know that one of the common complications of elevated blood sugar is diabetic retinopathy, which is when elevated blood sugar damages the tiny blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye. If untreated, diabetic retinopathy can lead to permanent vision loss and blindness.

Nearly 16 million American have diabetes and during their lifetimes, about half of those people will develop diabetic retinopathy. Annually, as many as 25,000 people lose their vision due to diabetes-related complications.

In addition to retinopathy, people with diabetes are nearly twice as likely to develop cataracts as other adults, and cataracts tend to develop at an earlier age. A cataract is a clouding of the eye’s lens that results in blurring of normal vision. 

Some studies show that individuals with diabetes also are almost twice as likely to suffer from glaucoma. The longer someone has had diabetes, the more common glaucoma is. Typically glaucoma occurs when pressure builds up in the eye. The pressure damages the optic nerve in the back of the eye, and vision is gradually lost due to the damage. Unfortunately, individuals are often unaware of this loss of vision until it is extreme.

This all sounds scary – and it is! But, with proper medical care and comprehensive eye exams at least every year, all of this can be prevented. November is Diabetes Awareness Month. Our office is planning a health education event for those affected with diabetes. We will have more information about this event soon. Stay tuned to our blog and Facebook page, as we will be posting details there. For more information about the effects of diabetes on your vision, please see our website. If you have any questions, please call our office at 434.823.4441.

Meet our new vision tester – the Optec 5500. It may look familiar, because this is a similar vision screening device used by the DMV. Ours does much more though…

The Optec 5500 takes acuity with or without glasses. It also can check for 3D vision (a test we do primarily on our young patients), color blindness and alignment. Used on children or adults, this instrument gets results in less than five minutes (a bonus for the little squirmers).

As a reminder, we perform comprehensive vision and health examinations for everyone from infants to adults. Call our office to schedule an appointment today!

Click here to view all of the 2012 winners. Congratulations to everyone who made this year’s list!

I am honored to announce that I was elected to serve as the President of the Virginia Optometric Association (VOA) on June 22 during our 110^th annual convention in Williamsburg. As President, I will be the official representative of the VOA in its contacts with governmental, civic, business and other professional associations. I will also continue to serve as Virginia’s InfantSEE coordinator.

Eyes have been a passion of mine for quite some time. I can remember shining a light in my eyes in a dark bathroom to watch my pupil constrict and dilate when I was in the 6th grade. Since deciding that I wanted to become an optometrist, I have found many other wonderful reasons why this is the profession for me. It turns out shining a light in other people’s eyes is actually more fun than shining it in your own (my kids could have probably taught me that without the doctorate degree). Being able to help patients with not only their eyesight, but also with their general health is gratifying.

Optometry has changed a lot over the last 25 years. Once thought of as eyeglass doctors, optometrists now provide more than 70% of the country’s comprehensive eye care, including management of glaucoma, diabetes, and other ocular and systemic diseases.

I am proud to be serving Virginia optometrists as the President of the VOA and to be a part of such an exemplary resource for my profession that represents and advocates the interests of more than 85% of the Commonwealth’s actively practicing Doctors of Optometry. I am looking forward to my new roles and responsibilities as the head of the organization and to continuing its commitment to improving the vision care and health of the public.

If you’d like to learn more about the VOA and its mission, visit the website at http://www.voa.org – or feel free to ask me!