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Medical eye care

Why your doctor wants you to have a diabetic eye exam.

From the doctors at Webb Eyecare

Because diabetes can damage the back of the eye before you notice anything at all, and because the damage is far easier to manage when it is caught in that silent stage.

What diabetes does to the eye

The retina is lined with very small blood vessels. Over time, higher blood sugar can weaken those vessels, so they leak, swell or close off. That is diabetic retinopathy.

The part that surprises people is the order it happens in. Meaningful damage can be under way while your vision still feels completely normal, because the center of your sight is often affected last.

What the exam actually involves

• A look at the retina, usually with dilation or retinal imaging, so your doctor can see the vessels themselves.
• A check for swelling in the central retina, which is the most common reason vision changes.
• A comparison against last year, which is the point of doing it annually rather than once.
• The rest of a full exam: pressure, prescription, and the front of the eye.

Why annually, and why your primary care doctor asks about it

An annual dilated eye exam is a standard part of diabetes care, and it is one of the measures your care team tracks. Your doctor is not being cautious for its own sake. They are looking for a change over time that only a yearly comparison can show.

If we find early changes, we may want to see you more often than once a year, and we will tell you exactly why.

This is usually a medical visit, not a vision visit

A diabetic eye exam is evaluating a medical condition, so it is generally billed to medical insurance rather than to a vision plan. That matters because many people who think they cannot afford an eye exam do have medical coverage that applies here. More on how that distinction works.

Come sooner than your next appointment if

• Your vision blurs, or fluctuates from day to day
• You notice new floaters, or a sudden increase in them
• Part of your vision looks dark, missing or curtained off
• Colors look washed out, or straight lines look bent

We do diabetic eye exams at all three clinics. Bring your most recent A1C if you have it, and tell us who manages your diabetes so we can send them the results.