Diabetic Retinopathy

Treat the Cause of Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is the most common, and direct, eye complication of diabetes.

This is where long-term uncontrolled high blood sugar levels damage the small blood vessels, or capillaries, that supply the retina. The retina is where nerve impulses from the eye to the brain are generated.

The damaged capillaries will start leaking fats and fluids, including blood, leading to diabetic macula oedema, or swelling in the macula, which is the area of the retina that provides our sharpest vision.

As these capillaries become too scarred and damaged to function, new and abnormal blood vessels will start to grow rapidly within the eye.

As these new capillaries tend to be too fragile, they will leak fats and fluids more easily, and become damaged and scarred more quickly.

When you’ve had diabetes for a while, blood vessels can form scar tissue and pull the retina away from the back of your eye.

This can lead to severe vision loss, and even blindness.

From the TCM point of view, she says: “The main pathogenesis is associated with yin deficiency, dryness and heat, or deficiency of both the Spleen and Liver.”

Treatment principles for diabetic retinopathy include moistening the Lung, strengthening the Spleen and nourishing the Kidney.  To stop the bleeding in the eye, drain the fluid, resolve the “stasis” of the blood and restore smooth movement of the qi through the body.