Diabetes Complications

My father was back at SGH for his appointment with an eye specialist. He had a detailed eye check for retinopathy.

One of the complications arising from diabetes is retinopathy. When there is prolonged high blood glucose, the blood vessels of the retina are damaged by becoming enlarged or clogged. The blood vessels can become weak and rupture and the retina can become detached from the back of the eye. A person may notice strange blotches, blurriness, or dark spots in their vision. If this happens, it is important to visit the eye specialist because if left untreated, retinopathy can lead to blindness. Therefore, it's important to keep blood glucose levels as near to normal as possible to prevent retina damage.

The diagnosis: my father's diabetes is causing some minor problems for his eyesight but not untreatable. Phew. My father can still salvage the situation but he has to keep his blood glucose level DOWN! Sigh. Going to be hard work. :( There was the usual queueing and waiting at SGH but at least today's visit in total took about 2.5 hours. It's considered very fast lol.

The next SGH visit for my father is to see the heart specialist.