Diabetic Maculopathy

[RVW]

Hi everyone. i am new to the forum and not sure if i am posting this in the correct place.

Even though i am new to the forum i`m not new to diabetes, i have been type 1 diabetic for 33 years.

Recently i had my yearly retinopathy eye screening and my results came back with diabetic maculopathy which has come as a bit of a shock and worry to me.

So my question to all of you nice people out there is have any of you been through this and is it anything to be concerned about?

Many thanks, RVW

 

[Dark Horse]

Are you being referred to the Hospital Eye Service for further investigation or just moitored more frequently in the Digital Surveillance arm of the screening pathway? Do you know if your visual acuity has changed in the affected eye(s)?

 

[RVW]

Hi Dark Horse, thanks for you’re reply.
I have got another appointment in 3 months with the digital surveillance team who do my 12 monthly checks for further investigation.
Not sure about my visual acuity and not sure if it’s in both eyes, i’ll obviously find out more on my next appointment.
Thanks again.

 

[chrisbug]

Hi RVW,
I'm in a similar position as you are. After my regular annual diabetic eye screening I had been bumped up to 3 monthly monitoring due to Maculopathy being detected, then they pushed it back to 6 monthly screening.
The people carrying out the screening have never been able to offer any advice/opinions etc.
The Consultant at the hospital has told me that if no changes occur, surveillance screening will just carry on in this manner, and the only thing that I can do is to try and keep my blood sugars in target, and monitor my blood pressure.
Maybe it's something to discuss with your GP or health team?

 

[Dark Horse]

If it's digital surveillance, it means that's there's just a small change which needs to be monitored more frequently. If it resolves, you would be returned to annual screening. If there is no change, you would be brought back into digital surveillance, possibly with a longer interval such as 6 months. If it appears substantially worse, you would be referred to ophthalmology for further eye tests to see if the changes are significant.

In the mean time, just concentrate on trying to keep good diabetic control.

 

[RVW]

Thanks again for the replies, my initial thought was they wouldn’t wait 3 months if it was serious so hopefully it’s just a matter of monitoring it on a regular basis.
My diabetic consultant has always been happy with my overall control, my last A1c was 6.8% and according to my Libre sensor it is still at 6.8%, i know there’s always room for improvement but i can’t seem to get lower than this no matter what i try.
Maybe the maculopathy is purely down to being diabetic for so long ‍
Thanks again for the replies from both of you, it’s good to talk to other people in a similar situation.

 

[AmyEliz92]

Hi RVW,

I have just received the same letter as you saying my result showed signs of diabetic maculopathy and I'll need to go back in 3 months.

I was hoping for a update on your own experience since you received your letter.

Thanks,

Amy

 

[EllieM]

Hi @AmyEliz92 and welcome to the forums. Given that RVW 's last post on this subject was 37 weeks ago they may or may not have noticed your question (some people set themselves to get alerts when others post on their threads but not everyone does), but if you add an @ sign before their username they get an alert to look at the post.

So @RVW, @AmyEliz92 has posted on your thread in the post above this one....

 

[AmyEliz92]

Hi @AmyEliz92 and welcome to the forums. Given that RVW 's last post on this subject was 37 weeks ago they may or may not have noticed your question (some people set themselves to get alerts when others post on their threads but not everyone does), but if you add an @ sign before their username they get an alert to look at the post.

So @RVW, @AmyEliz92 has posted on your thread in the post above this one....

Thank you!

 

[RVW]

Hi RVW,

I have just received the same letter as you saying my result showed signs of diabetic maculopathy and I'll need to go back in 3 months.

I was hoping for a update on your own experience since you received your letter.

Thanks,

Amy

Hi Amy,

Sorry i have only seen you’re message, when i had the letter telling me i’ve got maculopathy i was concerned, i had three 3 month check ups in a row to keep a close eye on it (excuse the pun) and now gone back to a 12 month check as it hasn’t started to affect my vision in any way.
I hope you are ok and keep attending you’re checkups, i’m sure you’ll have nothing to worry about.