I was diagnosed with Nonproliferative Diabetic Retinopathy a few weeks ago. It's kind of a scary thing to go through on your own, but I guess it's not too bad. This is just some info on some complications that can occur from uncontrolled diabetes. It's a relatively painless procedure. If hemorrhages are found on your retina or macula, they schedule you for a fluorescein angiography. This is a simple procedure of injecting a vegetable dye into the vein of your arm. After doing this, they take pictures of the back of your eye (Taking the pictures is similar to the eye exam for drivers licenses or determining the prescription strength of glasses. You put your head up to a device and then look at a small red flashing light. After that, you see a few brighter flashes). Then, you're done...the pics are taken so your ophthalmologist can see all of the hemorrhages and check further for macular edema. The next step is to go in for the laser treatment. Here they dilate your eyes and add numbing drops. Then you go into the treatment room and the ophthalmologist again has you put your head up to a device similar to the drivers license place. He then holds a lens against the eye being treated. You see a few bright flashes and the procedure is done. You will see a yellowish tint in the eye that was treated for about 15 to 20 minutes. After that your vision goes back to normal. The closer the hemorrhages are to the center of your retina, the higher the chances of seeing blind spots. Early diagnosis and treatment is crucial for protecting your site and eyes from further damage.



















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