Diabetic Macular Edema – Diabetic Eye Disease (Nursing)

00:01 Now the next one is diabetic macular edema, that's a buildup of fluid in the macula.

00:07 So look at our drawing there.

00:08 See we've got the macula back there.

00:11 You can see it's swollen, remember edema and tissues is not a good thing because the retina it's the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye and the macula is the part of the retina that's responsible for sharp, straight ahead vision.

00:26 So you can imagine, if the macula edematous, now we're going to have a problem.

00:32 Fluid buildup causes the macula to swell and thicken and that's what distorts their vision.

00:38 Ready to see what it would look like if you had diabetic macular edema? There you go.

00:44 Look at what that picture looks like, it's the primary symptom of macular edema is blurry or wavy vision near or in the center of the field of vision.

00:54 Colors might also appear washed out or faded.

00:57 Now if only one eye is affected the patient may not even really notice it because I told you your brain is amazing.

01:06 That's why people can wear two different prescriptions in their eyes, one for close-up vision, one for far vision, and their brain does all the processing.

01:15 Well, someone's developing macular edema, diabetic macular edema, in just one eye they may not recognize these changes because their brain is compensating for it.

01:26 Again, seeing a professional on a regular basis is critically important because the patient may not realize it until the damage has really been done and the condition is well advanced.