Diabetic Retinopathy Risk after Weight Loss Surgery

Even with normal blood sugar after weight loss surgery, there is a continued need to monitor the progression of diabetic retinopathy in order to prevent vision loss. What does weight loss surgery have to do with diabetic retinopathy? Researchers reporting at the American Diabetes Association on a small pilot study found weight-loss surgery might accelerate progression of diabetic retinopathy in some cases. In the study 17.5% of the diabetes patients screened about a year before and again after bariatric surgery suffered a progression of their diabetic retinopathy as compared with the 2% to 4% of the overall diabetes patients who develop retinopathy each year. The opposite impact might have been expected. If you have a condition such as diabetic retinopathy that is the result of the diabetes and the diabetes is in remission, it makes intuitive sense that the progression of the condition would be arrested. A few patients did appear to have regression of their eye disease most remained unchanged after surgery in the study. The patients who did progress had higher pre-surgical glucose levels and the greatest reduction in glucose levels afterward. A rapid reduction in blood glucose after the weight loss surgery-which is called “normoglycemic re-entry” or a temporary anemic episode after the weight loss surgery may actually be responsible for in the progression of preexisting diabetic retinopathy, but the mechanism is really unclear and requires a great deal of further investigation. One fact for sure-even if after weight loss surgery your blood glucose is normal, people with moderate background diabetic retinopathy prior to weight loss surgery should be monitored closely post-surgery for evidence of progression.

If you or someone you know has a question about the need for monitoring diabeticretinopathy even after weight loss surgery rendering blood sugar “normal,” please call The Eye Care & Surgery Center at 908-789-8999, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment.

With locations at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, The Eye Care & Surgery Center is a leading NJ eye care practice conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.

LASIK Safer than Contacts?

At The Eye Care & SurgeryCenter in New Jersey, we provide eye care for a large population of contact lens wearers and are careful to provide proper selection, instruction and follow-up for our patients. We also provide laser eye surgery for the correction of nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism for patients from throughout the greater NY and NJ metro area.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just reported that Americans make nearly one million emergency visits to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms annually for eye infections. They indicate that most of these infections are related to improper use and care of contact lenses.

“When people contemplate having Laser Vision correction, one of the primary issues of concern is safety” shared Cornea, Cataract & LASIK Surgeon Joel Confino, M.D.  “These numbers from the CDC clearly indicate that the risk of eye infection related to contact lens wear is much greater than it is for LASIK.  We have endeavored to make the Laser Vision Experience as safe and comfortable as possible for our patients.”

If you or someone you know has questions about contact lenses, contact lens safety and contact lens problems or would like to learn more or schedule a free LASIK consultation please contact us at 800-504-1083, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment.

With locations at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, The Eye Care & Surgery Center is a leading NJ eye care practice conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.

Diabetic Retinopathy & Cardiovascular Event Risk

The presence and severity of diabetic retinopathy may indicate the risk of future cardiovascular (CV) events such as heart attack or stroke. The relationship between diabetic retinopathy, its 4-year progression, and CV outcomes including CV death or nonfatal myocardial infarction or stroke was analyzed in participants in the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) Trial who also participated in the ACCORD Eye Study. The diabetic retinopathy was classified as either none, mild, moderate, or severe and whether it was worsening was also graded. The hazard of CV death or nonfatal myocardial infarction or stroke increased by 38% for every category of change in retinopathy severity and steps of progression further raised the hazard. The researchers believe that both the severity of retinopathy and its progression are determinants of predisposition to CV outcomes.

The retina may provide an anatomical index of the effect of metabolic and hemodynamic factors on future CV outcomes.

If you or someone you know wishes to learn more about the presence and severity of diabetic retinopathy as an indicator of cardiovascular event risk can feel free to call The Eye Care & Surgery Center at 908-789-8999, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment.

With locations at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, The Eye Care & Surgery Center is a leading NJ eye care practice conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.

Preventing Diabetic Eye Problems

The Eye Care & Surgery Center notes that Prevent Blindness America has designated November as National Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month. Diabetes affects more than 25 million people in the United States and is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults 20-74 years of age. Most disturbing is that almost 8 million people ages 40 and older have Diabetic Retinopathy with the potential for vision loss. Although there is no cure for diabetic eye disease, annual eye exams for diabetes patients are essential to help slow the progression of the disease.

Preventing Vision Loss from Diabetic Eye Disease & Retinopathy

The vision loss from diabetic retinopathy can be prevented if it's caught early and treated in time. More than one third of those diagnosed with diabetes do not adhere to vision care guidelines recommending a dilated eye exam every year. As part of Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month we are urging people with diabetes to have a dilated eye exam every year. The longer a person has diabetes, the greater his or her risk for developing diabetic retinopathy. However, diabetic retinopathy does not only affect people who have had diabetes for many years, it can also appear within the first year or two after the onset of the disease.

In addition to having regular eye examinations and testing at the direction of your eye doctor, patients can help to reduce the risk of developing diabetic eye disease  by not smoking, controlling their cholesterol and lipid profile and blood pressure, as well as working to eat a heart-healthy diet rich in fish, fruit and green leafy vegetables and exercising. 

If you or someone you know has diabetes or even elevated blood sugar levels they should work to prevent diabetic eye disease and problems with regular eye exams by calling The Eye Care & Surgery Center at 908-789-8999, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment.

With locations at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, The Eye Care & Surgery Center is a leading NJ eye care practice conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.