Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is caused by high blood sugar caused by diabetes. Over time, too much glucose in the blood can damage blood vessels throughout the body, including the retina, and can cause blindness in severe cases!
Keywords: diabetes
Patients with diabetes for more than 30 years,
It has been 20 years since I was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy.
I was given monthly injections of anti-VEGF drugs, but the condition still recurred.
Financial, physical and mental pressures abound,
Later, I accidentally consulted a traditional Chinese medicine doctor.
Acupuncture twice a week, combined with traditional Chinese medicine,
Basically recovered in three months.
And the follow-up visits were not repeated.
This is not a story, this is the personal experience of Professor Liu Jing, director of the Ophthalmology Department of Wangjing Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. It’s not a legend, it’s a little bit of light that Chinese medicine has exerted!
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is caused by high blood sugar caused by diabetes. Over time, too much glucose in the blood can damage blood vessels throughout the body, including the retina, and can cause blindness in severe cases!
The incidence of DR is directly proportional to the duration of diabetes. According to domestic literature reports, the incidence of DR is about 28% among patients with diabetes duration less than 5 years; the incidence rate increases to about 36% in 5 to 10 years; as the duration of the disease extends to 10 years Between 15 years and 15 years, the incidence rate is nearly 60%, which means that more than half of the diabetic population will develop DR; the incidence rate for those with a disease course of more than 15 years can reach more than 70%!
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Complications are more terrible than diabetes
High blood sugar levels in diabetes are not scary in themselves, but the complications of diabetes are scary. Among them, vascular lesions are the main ones, and the capillaries in the fundus are few and thin, making it a high-incidence area for diabetic complications. During the course of diabetes, most eye tissues can be affected, resulting in the characteristics and pathological changes of each eye tissue.
Diabetes damages the human body mainly to the eyes and kidneys, and its complications are complex. Retinopathy is common, which can cause visual impairment; diabetic nephropathy, which can cause kidney function to decline. Professor Liu Jing said that we must actively prevent this and strive to improve the quality of life of diabetic patients.
Professor Liu Jing emphasized that patients with basic diseases such as hyperglycemia, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia are easily affected by the normal circulation of blood vessels in the body. As the disease progresses, DR is likely to occur to a large extent; in addition, there are disorders in endocrine function. The population is also a high-risk factor for the onset of DR.
Therefore, this group of people need to live a regular life, monitor various physical indicators at any time, and seek medical treatment promptly if there are any abnormal symptoms to prevent irreparable accidents!
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DR symptoms and types
The ocular symptoms of DR patients are closely related to the location and severity of their fundus lesions.
Usually there are no conscious symptoms in the early stages of the eye. As the disease progresses, the following symptoms may occur:
v There are shadows floating in front of the eyes;
vBlurred vision, seeing things in a foggy state;
v Decreased vision, especially at night;
v There are double images when seeing things.
DR is internationally divided into two types, proliferative and non-proliferative.
proliferative retinopathy
Retinal damage stimulates the growth of new blood vessels, which can cause fibroplasia and sometimes retinal detachment. Growth into the vitreous can also cause vitreous hemorrhage.
nonproliferative retinopathy
Non-proliferative retinopathy, also known as simple retinopathy, has no retinal neovascularization.
Compared with the two, proliferative retinopathy is more harmful to vision and can lead to severe vision loss or even complete blindness.
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DR treatment progress
As the course of diabetes progresses, the incidence of DR increases. Therefore, during the course of 5 to 7 years, most patients have no symptoms. Western medicine generally does not provide any treatment, but traditional Chinese medicine will provide interventional treatment.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that when the course of the disease is within 5 years or the incidence rate is low within 5 to 7 years, it belongs to Qi and Yin deficiency, and drug intervention can be used.
For patients with bleeding or new blood vessels, Western medicine mainly focuses on laser treatment. Laser treatment can block the survival of new blood vessels, but as a surgery, it is destructive and may cause certain damage to the visual field, and laser surgery There are certain clinical indications, and if fundus fluorescence imaging shows a non-perfusion area greater than 4 PD, laser surgery can be performed.
For vitreous hemorrhage, Western medicine currently uses vitrectomy surgery to treat it, and the patient regains his sight quickly. However, some patients have poor blood sugar control and suffer from repeated bleeding. At this time, traditional Chinese medicine methods of activating blood circulation and removing blood stasis are used, and the treatment effect is obvious.
In addition, for patients with macular edema, the most advanced method in the world is to use anti-VEGF drugs for intravitreal injection. The disadvantage is that as the disease progresses and the effect of the drugs gradually disappears, patients need repeated injections. Clinically, many patients even undergo repeated injections 20 or 30 times, which may cause complications during repeated intracavitary injections, which are difficult to control.
In this case, traditional Chinese and Western medicine can be combined, and acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine can be used at the same time as intracavitary injection. Scientific research data shows that the combination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine can reduce the recurrence rate and the number of intracavitary injections.
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Are there any sequelae after DR is cured?
Professor Liu Jing advocates that the treatment of DR requires early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment. There will be no sequelae at this time; once the disease develops to an advanced stage, with the increase in the number of lasers, irreversible visual field defects will occur. This is a Indisputable fact. In addition, intravitreal injection may also cause secondary glaucoma.
The main harm of diabetes is to the choroid of the fundus. The choroid has no pain-sensing nerves and can easily be ignored. When sensation occurs, it has largely caused irreversible lesions, such as macular edema, hemorrhage, vitreous hemorrhage, etc.
Professor Liu Jing suggested that after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, it is recommended that everyone actively undergo fundus examinations, otherwise the best opportunity for treatment may be delayed.
