Diabetic retinopathy, a term which I cannot pronounce, is a potential complication of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Essentially, diabetes can cause blood vessels to become more fragile, and this can cause the blood vessels in your eyes to bleed, which has an impact on your vision. Because of this, it is important to get your eyes checked for diabetes-related damage.
In Ireland, diabetic retinal screening, which checks for this damage, is available free of charge for anyone with either type of diabetes, aged 12 or over. When I was diagnosed, the hospital registered me for the programme, although you can also register yourself.
First thing in the morning today, I had to go to hospital for my first routine blood tests. After that, I hopped on a train and went one town over for my first retinal screening. It was just chance that those two things happened on the same day, but I decided to take the day off work and make a fun day trip out of it.
The screening process was really simple. I attended the clinic, they put drops in my eyes, and I waited twenty minutes for the drops to take effect. Then I had photographs of the backs of my eyes taken. It was actually a lot easier than a standard eye exam, and I think I spent more time talking to the technician about hair colour1 than actually having my eyes examined. Like a standard eye exam at an opticians, nothing touched my eye, other than the eye drops.
Of course, I’d forgotten to take the eye drops into account. They made my pupils dilate, so my eyes were really sensitive to light, and it was a beautifully sunny day in the Irish Midlands, so on my way home I had to stagger into a pharmacy and buy a pair of clip on sunglasses. They were not the most elegant sunglasses I’d ever seen, but they meant I could open my eyes without feeling like I was being incinerated by a nearby nuclear explosion. If you are diabetic and you have a retinal screening, don’t forget to take your sunglasses.
All things considered, it was actually quite a nice day out.
More information
- Diabetic retinopathy on HSE.ie
- Diabetic retina screening from the HSE
- Diabetic retinopathy service from Diabetes Ireland
- Diabetic retinopathy on Specsavers.ie
- Having blue hair is a great conversation starter. ↩︎