Diabetes Retinopathy

What Is Diabetes-Related Retinopathy?

Diabetes-related retinopathy is an eye disease that weakens the blood vessels in your retinas. The weakened blood vessels damage your retina. That can cause vision loss and even permanent blindness when the damage becomes severe enough.

Symptoms and Causes

You might not have symptoms in the early stages of diabetes-related retinopathy. That’s because this condition doesn’t start causing vision changes until the damage is more severe or widespread throughout your retina.

Diabetes-related retinopathy symptoms can include:

Blurred or distorted vision
New color blindness or color vision changes (like colors looking faded or less vivid)
Night blindness (nyctalopia)
Eye floaters (myodesopsias) or streaks in your vision
Blind spots (scotomas)
Visual field defects
Low vision and vision loss