Mild Retinopathy

Hi @girl afraid

Imagine that news would come as quite a shock, but many people get told that they have background retinopathy and it never progresses further, as where others unfortunately go on to the next stage and may require treatment.

The best thing you can do is keep your bg,bp and cholesterol levels under control, have a look at the following as it has a wealth of information and advice on diabetic retinopathy:

http://www.diabeticretinopathy.org.uk/back_diabetic_retinopathy.html

Best wishes and hope all works out well.

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

girl afraid said:

So is background retinopathy reversible?

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It's a commonly debated subject...

I don't think it can be reversed, but it's progression can be halted.

Grant

girl afraid said:

Just been told by the optometrist that I have mild retinopathy without fluid. I don't know what to make of this. My A1C was borderline (6.5%) when I was diagnosed in May so I didn't expect there to be complications. This is to be expected?

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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.

With eye screening it's more complicated because the screening test is really looking for sight-threatening retinopathy not background retinopathy. Background retinopathy is reported, if found, so people can address diabetic control but the emphasis is really on sight-threatening retinopathy not background. There are some things that can be confused with background retinopathy, particularly on a first screening, so I would look at trends rather than single results.

girl afraid said:

So is background retinopathy reversible?

Click to expand...

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.)

GrantGam1337 said:

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

Click to expand...

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.