What is Diabetes Mellitus?

Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is an advanced form of diabetes and it leads to loss of eye sight.

Once disease is recognized, the patient needs frequent eye examination and immediate treatment to avoid further complications.

Except retinal swelling, there many not be any significant symptoms or signs during the first stage of this disease.

The primary stage is also known as background retinopathy or non proliferative retinopathy. At this stage, small capillaries of retina change into semi permeable membranes.

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy damages blood vessels in retina and it leads to the development of cataract at an early age in patients with diabetes.

Glaucoma is the other potential risk. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy also causes an increase in fluid pressure in eyes, which leads to damage of optic nerve and vision loss.

Stages of Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy has four stages, mild, moderate, severe and proliferative. Microaneurysms, balloon like swelling, occur during the mild stage.

During the second stage, some blood vessels, which nourish retina, are blocked. A large number of blood vessels are blocked during severe nonproliferative retinopathy stage.

It deprives the blood supply to several areas of retina. As a result, retina in these areas send signals to grow new blood vessels for nourishment.

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is the last and most advanced stage. During this stage, body starts growing new blood vessels as per the direction of retina.

However, these blood vessels will be fragile and abnormal. They also have fragile and thin walls. When they leak blood, it leads to severe vision loss and even blindness.

Major Symptoms of Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Sings and symptoms will be more prominent during the advanced stages of this disease. People with Type I and Type II diabetes are more prone to this disease.

Hazy, blurry or spotty vision, floaters, retinal changes, difficulty in reading etc are the major symptoms of proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

If patients get treatment on time, they can reduce the risk of blindness by 95%. Macular edema and proliferative diabetic retinopathy can be diagnosed by conducting visual acuity test, dilated eye examination and tonometry.

So eye care professionals can find if there is any leakage in blood vessels, retinal swelling or macular edema, fatty or pale deposits on retina, damaged nerve tissues, any changes in blood vessels, etc.

Treatment for Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

If the patient do not have macular edema, no treatment is needed during the first three stages of diabetic retinopathy. You can prevent its progression by controlling the level of blood sugar, blood cholesterol and blood pressure in your body.

Laser surgery is the most effective treatment for curing proliferative diabetic retinopathy and this procedure is known as scatter laser treatment.

It is helpful for shrinking abnormal blood vessels. Doctor places around 2000 laser burns in areas of retina away from macula. You cannot regain your night vision and color vision fully even if you undergo Scatter laser treatment.

Scatter laser treatment should be done before fragile new blood vessels start bleeding. It is possible if the patient conducts regular eye check ups.

It can be done successfully even during the bleeding stage. But the success depends on the severity of bleeding.

The procedure of laser surgery used for treating macular edema is called focal laser treatment. In order to reduce the leakage of fluid in retina, the doctor places hundreds of small laser burns in areas of retina.

Usually, the surgery can be completed in one session. If the disease affects both eyes, several sessions are needed for treating it.

Patients need to undergo vitrectomy if there are lots of blood in center of eye. This surgery is conducted under general or local anesthesia.

The surgery is used for the removal of clouded vitreous gel in center of the eye. This gel is replaced with a  healthy  vitreous solution.

This treatment is also used for removing scar tissue. After this treatment, medicated drops should be used for protecting eyes from infection. Patients must also wear eye patch for a few days.

Scatter laser treatment and vitrectomy are highly effective for treating proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The success rate of both these treatments are very high.

However, these are not meant for curing proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Instead, these are used for recovering your vision.

Maintaining blood glucose level and regular eye examinations are essential for preventing and treating Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy successfully.