Diabetes is a condition that affects the way your body regulates blood sugar. Over time, high blood sugar levels can damage the tiny blood vessels that nourish your eyes, putting people with diabetes at risk of serious complications like diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of preventable blindness in adults.
Even when your vision seems fine, changes can be happening behind the scenes — and specialized screening is essential. Anthony Cirino, DO, and our team at Cirino Eye Center in Brunswick, Ohio, specialize in diabetic eye exams to help you stay on top of your eye health and enjoy your best possible vision.
Here’s how diabetic eye exams are different from regular eye exams and why they’re so important.
A routine eye exam focuses on vision clarity and eye alignment and checks for common conditions like nearsightedness or glaucoma. While helpful, it isn’t designed to catch the earliest signs of diabetes-related eye damage.
At Cirino Eye Center, our diabetic eye exams go beyond the standard vision check. Dr. Cirino and our team do a thorough exam of your eyes to assess both physical health and vision quality.
We take high-resolution images of your retina to look for early signs of blood vessel damage, hemorrhages, or fluid leakage. When you get yearly eye exams, we can compare the images from one year to the next to identify changes over time. We may also use dilating drops to examine your retina and optic nerve more thoroughly than with a standard exam.
OCT (optical coherence tomography) is an advanced scan that provides a cross-sectional view of the retina, allowing us to identify macular swelling or microscopic changes not visible with regular tools. We also assess for microaneurysms, new abnormal vessels, or retinal ischemia (lack of blood flow), all of which can increase your risk of diabetic retinopathy.
Along with routine vision screening, these additional tests help us catch retinal changes at their earliest stages, when treatment can make the most difference.
Early diabetic retinopathy usually doesn’t cause symptoms, and by the time you notice vision changes, serious damage may already be done. Annual diabetic eye exams are a proactive way to monitor your eye health, so you can start treatment before your vision declines.
Routine eye exams also give us the opportunity to monitor your eyes for other common diabetes complications. People with diabetes tend to develop cataracts, which cause cloudy or blurred vision, earlier. Increased pressure inside your eye can cause glaucoma and permanent damage to your optic nerve, and macular edema is a type of swelling in your retina that can cause distorted vision.
If we detect damage in your retina or optic nerve, treatments like laser therapy, anti-VEGF injections, or careful blood sugar management can prevent progression and preserve vision. For most people, early detection means fewer complications and less invasive treatment.
At Cirino Eye Center, we’re deeply committed to guiding patients with diabetes through eye care that’s proactive, personalized, and easy to access. We work with your primary care physician or endocrinologist to ensure your eye health is part of your broader care plan, and we walk you through all findings and treatment options clearly — so you feel informed, supported, and empowered to protect your vision.
Diabetic eye exams include so much more than simply checking your vision. Staying up to date with annual diabetic eye exams is one of the best ways to prevent vision loss, and we’re here to help. Call or message Cirino Eye Center today to schedule your diabetic eye exam and get the care your eyes deserve.
