Eye, eye

When did you last have your eyes tested? 

I only ask because I learned last week that having a digital retinal photograph taken could alert you to a range of health problems including diabetes.

Many of us, it seems, overlook some of symptoms of this condition – extreme tiredness or getting up to go to the loo in the night, for example – because we assume this just happens as we get older.

Indeed, according to a survey commissioned by ShARP (the Simplyhealth Advisory Research Panel) almost half of those questioned were already displaying one or more warning signs. Yet 53 per cent had convinced themselves that they were at no risk of developing Type 2 diabetes at all!

So why might a retinal scan be useful? Diabetes can damage the retina – the light-sensitive layer of cells at the back of the eye. The damage occurs because a continuously high blood sugar level can cause the tiny blood vessels that supply the retina to become blocked or leak.

And if the blood vessels in your eyes are affected then so, too will the blood vessels be elsewhere in your body – in your kidneys, for example.

My eyes turned out to be fine. Time you checked yours? http://www.mylocaloptician.co.uk/subcontent.asp?id=1&subid=108