November-Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month

November is Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
It is important to take good care of your eyes when you have diabetes. Did you know that diabetes can harm your eyes? The good news is that you can take steps to help keep your eyes healthy. The tips below will get you started.
TIPS TO KEEPING YOUR EYES HEALTHY
1. Get a dilated eye exam at least once a year and share the results with your primary care doctor.
• In this exam, you will get eye drops to make your pupils larger. Pupils are the black circles in the middle of your eyes. The drops are painless and help your eye doctor see inside your eyes to look for signs of health problems.
• A dilated eye exam can help your eye doctor find and treat problems to keep you from losing your vision from diabetes.
• Our eye doctor may take pictures of your eyes with a tool called retinal photography. This helps to see the retina, which is at the back part of your eyes.
• Be sure to keep your next eye doctor appointment!
2. Visit your eye doctor right away if you:
• ƒ See little black lines or spots that don’t go away.
• ƒ See any red spots.
• ƒ See red fog.
• ƒ Have a sudden change in how clearly you see.
• ƒ Take longer than usual to adjust to darkness.