translated from Spanish: Retinopathy present in 60% of diabetics

Mexico.-60% of diabetics develop retinopathy between 5 and 10 years after their diagnosis and the percentage is aggravated by the passage of time, said Sunday the Mexican doctor Abel Ramírez. There are data that prove that 70% of people who have 10 years with diabetes has retinopathy, and 80% when they are 20 years with the disease, “said the doctor at the 34 Pan American Ophthalmology Congress that takes place in Cancun, Mexican state of Quintana Roo . Ramírez, head of service of the Department of Retina at Our Lady of the Light Hospital in Mexico City, explained that retinopathy occurs when glucose impacts directly into the blood vessels of the eye.

“This organ has a great need for vascular and circulatory flow and at the same time they are very small vascular structures and when the glucose is elevated in the blood it acts like a caramel that begins to cover those small glasses”, he explained. This causes obstruction in the correct functioning of the circulation and the eye looks for other ways to obtain blood and oxygen to function by creating new blood vessels that are of poor quality and can break. The specialist indicated that retinopathy is one of the causes of irreversible visual decline in Mexico and in institutions such as Our Lady of Light Hospital, 80% of patients arriving by ophthalmological consultation for the first time present it in advanced stages.

Said that periodic reviews of the Eye Fund are necessary because not all patients with diabetes have vision problems although their retinopathy is already advanced. ” There are patients who refer that a day before, before bedtime, were watching television and the next morning they could not see, this could be due to the blood vessels are very fragile and with the rapid movement of eyes (MOR) during the deep stage of sleep They broke up, “he explained.

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He stressed that in order to detect the disease on time, it is necessary to go to the ophthalmologist at least once a year, but also emphasized the importance of performing a glycosylated hemoglobin test three times a year. ” If we talk about what is the clearest tool to know if you are in control with diabetes, most people only think about the percentages of glucose, but it is a value that is influenced by the fasting period. The glycosylated hemoglobin test lets us know if they’re actually in control, “abounded. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that Mexico is one of the countries with the most diabetic and has the highest mortality rate due to this disease, with 98,000 deaths in 2016.



Original source in Spanish