It's a commonly debated subject...
No screening test is 100% accurate. The eye screening tests meet the national standards for screening tests which say that for every 100 people with no disease, up to 5 people can be wrongly classified as having the disease. These people would be referred to hospital and given further tests to confirm or contradict the original finding.
The original damage does not get repaired but good diabetic control can reduce the risk of any new damage. Eventually the original changes are no longer visible so someone can move from having background retinopathy to having no retinopathy detected. (Of course, this can also happen if the original results was not correct.)
It's very unlikely for a type 1 to have retinopathy at diagnosis although it could be possible if there was an unusually slow onset, over a period of years. Background retinopathy changes include microaneurysms (small swellings on capillaries that look like tiny white dots) and small haemorrhages. Although microaneurysms are pretty well specific for diabetic retinopathy, some people have the occasional small spot of pigment that can look like a microaneurysm if the camera flash is bright, particularly on a first screening where there are no previous images to compare. Haemorrhages , however, can be found in other circumstances - hypertension, or even transient rises in blood pressure such as may happen in scuba diving or straining at stool. If you are diabetic, the assumption is that a haemorrhage is due to diabetes unless there is a clear pattern suggesting that it's not. It's always best to look for trends in results, but if you are worried, you could ring the screening service to ask them about your anomalous result.Morning,
I was diagnosed T1D in April 2014 with an A1c of 127. My initial retinal screening said I had evidence of retinopathy in my left eye. Since then I've had two retinal screenings and one eye test at the opticians and they've all been completely clear.
I have no idea what to make of this first test... It may have been a dodgy interpretation of the images taken at the hospital. Or it may have had something to do with seriously high blood sugars exaggerating something that's now not noticeable. You may have had something similar; even with a decent A1c?
Maybe once you get the BG levels reigned right in, you will hopefully get some good news come the next screening.
Don't worry about it though, the important thing is you now know you're diabetic - and what it is you need to work towards
Good luck,
Grant
