In addition to managing your diabetes, annual eye exams are the best way to protect your eyes from diabetic complications and blindness. Many diabetes-related ocular diseases have no symptoms, making an eye exam the best way to catch eye diseases early before your vision is permanently damaged. During your exam, we’ll take extra care to evaluate your eyes for diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, and glaucoma.
Patients with diabetes need extra care, so we can take additional steps to assess and preserve your eye health. We use specialized techniques to look for issues caused by diabetes, including dilated eye exams, to examine the retina for irregularities. We also use Optos and visual field testing.
Optomap imaging takes less than a second to do, but it can provide critical insight into your eye health. The instrument scans your eyes and takes an image of your retina, allowing us to detect any retinal abnormalities like diabetic retinopathy and edema. Retinal imaging is especially useful when combined with regular eye exams as we can compare past and current images to detect changes in your ocular health.
Visual field testing is useful for detecting peripheral vision loss, a sign of eye diseases like glaucoma. A visual field test can also help us detect retinal abnormalities which can compromise your vision.
More than 2 in 5 Americans with diabetes have some stage of diabetic retinopathy. There are no early symptoms of diabetic retinopathy, making an eye exam the best way to know if you have the disease.
By the time later symptoms like blurred vision and floating spots appear, the damage may not be reversible. If left untreated, diabetic retinopathy can progress to diabetic macular edema and potentially neovascular glaucoma, which can both cause blindness.
Symptoms of diabetic macular edema include faded colors and distorted central vision. The disease is caused by complications of diabetes that lead to a build-up of fluid in the macula, the center of the retina. Over time, diabetic macular edema can lead to central vision loss.
What a great experience with Associated in Eyecare Optometrists. The staff was very professional and helpful. They took the time to listen with our concerns and were very understanding with our needs. Highly recommend going to see them.
Everyone here is always so kind and helpful. I never feel like they are rushing me to get to someone else. The doc sat with my son for an hour, patiently coaching and helping him get is first contacts in and out and in again. Thanks to all.
Everyone was super welcoming. The Doctor explained everything and showed me pictures of the backs of my eyes. They explained how everything worked with my insurance and was very helpful picking out my new glasses. I will recommend them to everyone I know.
Our office is conveniently located in the Village Center Plaza, between GNC and Harris Teeter.
Associates in Eyecare - Stone Ridge
