Can Diabetes Cause Eye Floaters?

Everything about how the eye works is complicated and baffling at the same time: connections of different parts of this organ taking in light, processing the images we receive, and transmitting them to the brain to form the image of the world around us. The parts of the eye that make that happen are held together by a jellylike substance called the vitreous humor, which makes up most of its volume.

The vitreous humor is also where eye floaters, or myodesopsias, can develop—those little squiggly lines that sometimes dart into your field of vision. While eye floaters are typically harmless, they can be caused by various factors and underlying health conditions, such as diabetic retinopathy, a disease that affects the blood vessels in your retina and can lead to vision problems. But can diabetic retinopathy also contribute to the development of eye floaters?

If you live in the Muncie, Indiana, area and you’re dealing with eye problems related to diabetes or other illnesses, you can find help with Dr. Jeffrey Rapkin and his dedicated staff at the Retina Consultants of Muncie.

The effect of diabetes on your eyes

Diabetes develops when your body doesn’t properly regulate the amount of blood glucose (blood sugar), a result of not enough of the hormone insulin or a resistance to it, and over time it can damage just about every organ in your body. When this damage reaches your eyes, it strikes the blood vessels in your retinas in the form of diabetic retinopathy. 

Retinopathy not only damages the blood vessels, but it tries to repair them with weaker fragile ones, making the problem worse. It happens in two stages: nonproliferative when the damaged vessels leak into the retina, and proliferative when the weaker blood vessels leak into the vitreous humor, and leads to retinal detachment and blindness.

Possible reasons for floaters

Vision problems may not develop in the first stage of retinopathy, but once symptoms start to show vision problems can include blurriness, dark spots, problems distinguishing colors, and eye floaters as the damaged blood vessels start leaking into the vitreous humor. As symptoms worsen, you can also experience problems focusing, blind spots, and dark spots in the center of your vision.

How we can help

If you have diabetes, getting regular checks for this can help to manage the condition early to manage these symptoms and we can offer our 20 years of experience in treating retinal illnesses like diabetic retinopathy. We perform eye exams to assess the damage and can use multiple methods of observing and treating, such as:

• Watchful waiting: in the very early stages there may be no signs, so we look for vision changes
• Regulating blood sugar: using insulin treatments to lower blood glucose and reduce symptoms
• Laser treatments: these can help to remove and shrink damaged blood vessels
• Corrective devices: glasses and contact lenses can help manage early signs
• Surgery: a vitrectomy can drain blood in the back of your eye 

Eye damage from diabetic retinopathy can severely limit your ability to see, and floaters are just a minor sign of problems you’ll have if you don’t get them treated. 

Make an appointment with Dr. Rapkin and the Retina Consultants of Muncie today to catch it early and reduce its impact on your life.