Diabetic disease of the retina (diabetic retinopathy) can affect anyone who has diabetes and generally, you won’t notice any symptoms until the disease is well advanced. Early detection is the key to successful treatment, so it is very important for everyone with diabetes to have a simple, annual screening test.

The retina is the inner surface of the eye, it receives the images of the things you see and passes them to the brain.

Diabetic disease of the retina affects the blood vessels that supply the retina. These blood vessels can become blocked, leak or grow haphazardly and if left untreated can damage your sight.

In order to protect your eyes, you should have a screening test for diabetic disease of the retina when your diabetes is diagnosed and then once a year after that.

Don’t wait until you notice a change in your vision because diabetic disease of the retina often has no symptoms until the disease is well advanced, by then treatment is more difficult, so it is important to have your eyes screened once a year.

A screening test will check your eyes for signs of diabetic disease of the retina, but it does not detect other eye conditions so you should also have a regular eye test at the optician.

Your optician will write to you when your normal sight test is due and the Retinal Screening Service will write to you about screening. If the sight test and screening are due at about the same time and if your optician can provide screening, you may be able to get both done together.

Click here if you would like to find out more about the diabetes home tests.