How can diabetes affect your eyes?
Diabetic eye disease remains a very common cause of visual loss in people with diabetes.
Please watch the film created by Diabetes Scotland and RNIB Scotland for more information about this.
Diabetic eye disease can be prevented by controlling blood glucose levels, good blood pressure control, not smoking and attending your eye screening to detect and treat any complications before they affect your vision.
What changes can occur in the retina?
Diabetic retinopathy is when diabetes causes the small blood vessels in the retina (backs of the eyes) to leak or become blocked.
Please watch this video from My Diabetes My Way to learn more about some of the changes in the retina that can occur in people with diabetes.
Diabetic Eye Screening
Diabetic eye screening is a test to check for diabetic retinopathy.
This screening test is offered to people aged 12 and over with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
Watch the video from NHS Tayside to see what happens at eye screening appointments.
More information about diabetic eye screening can be found on the Diabetic Eye Screening page on the NHS Inform website
You can find out about your own eye screening results by logging on to your account on mydiabetesmyway and choose ‘EYES’ from the ‘MY RESULTS’ menu. See example of patient record below – (please note results are not from a real patient.)
Diabetic eye screening only looks for retinopathy. It’s important to go for regular eye tests with your optician too. Try searching the Scottish Service Directory to find you local opticians
Recent Changes to Diabetic Eye Screening (DES)
Revised Screening Intervals
Following scientific research, the UK National Screening Committee recommends that people with diabetes who are at low risk of sight loss should be screened for diabetic retinopathy every two years, instead of every year.
We are in the process of transitioning to revised screening intervals. This began in October 2020. This will help us to prioritise people at most risk of sight loss as we catch up after the pause of the programme earlier this year due to COVID-19.
Incorporation of OCT into the DES programme
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) will be formally incorporated into the DES programme and will generally be delivered by DES teams instead of requiring referral to ophthalmology. This service has been available within Grampian for some time now.
Find out more:
To find out more about these changes visit www.publichealthscotland.scot/DESchanges
NHS inform will be updated to reflect revised screening intervals, including specific information advising people when their next appointment will be: www.nhsinform.scot/des
There will also be specific information advising people of when their next appointment will be at www.nhsinform.scot/mynextdes