Talk to Your Family About Diabetes and Healthy Vision
The subject of diabetes seems to be everywhere these days—in the news, on social media, even on talk shows. In fact, 26 million people have diabetes, and this number is increasing, putting more people at risk for health complications. If you or someone in your family has diabetes, you should talk to them about diabetic eye disease, one of the complications of diabetes. Diabetic eye disease includes cataract, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy, which is the most common form of the disease. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in adults 20–74 years of age. More than 800,000 African Americans have diabetic retinopathy, and this number will likely reach 1.2 million by 2030. While everyone who has diabetes can get diabetic eye disease, African Americans are at higher risk of losing vision or going blind from it. “The longer a person has diabetes, the greater is his or her risk of developing diabetic eye disease,” said Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D., director of...