Confused - eyes!

[trinity0097]

So was diagnosed t2 last Feb, almost immediately went onto Lchf, reduced my blood sugars to an extent that the doctors have basically said that you are not diabetic any longer, but we will see you every year for blood work etc. I had eye screening last April, which was totally clear. I saw the opticians a month ago who said that my eyes were really healthy and absolutely no sign of diabetes.

Had my eye screening again last week and apparently I have 'background retinopathy'.

How reliable is the screening?! They say I should aim to control my sugars ( I do!) and have regular diabetes checks (once a year ), what else should I do - ask for an hba1c sooner?!

 

[Dark Horse]

Even ONE small diabetic change (a microaneurysm or a haemorrhage) counts as background retinopathy so sometimes the difference between normal results and background retinopathy is very minimal. It is possible that background retinopathy was present last year but was not visible for various reasons e.g. being hidden by a floater or being located off the edge of the image.

There can be a lag between raised blood glucose levels and the development of retinopathy so it is also possible that the background retinopathy is new but is as a result of your previous blood glucose levels or it may be due to an increase in blood pressure affecting previously damaged capillary walls.

Be aware that some features of background retinopathy (microaneurysms) persist for a few years after they have formed even if blood glucose control has improved so someone could get background retinopathy results for a few years until they disappear even though the retinopathy has not progressed.

Eye screening, like any other screening, has a small proportion of false positives (where patients are referred to ophthalmology despite no sight-threatening retinopathy being present) and false negatives (where patients are not referred to ophthalmology despite sight-threatening retinopathy being present). Please note, background retinopathy is not sight-threatening.