As Dominica joins the rest of the world in observing World Diabetes Day today, Consultant Opthalmologist, Dr. Hazel Shillingford Ricketts, is highlighting the connection between diabetes and blindness and its effect on the family, the community and the nation.
The theme for World Diabetes Day 2018 is The Family and Diabetes.
Dr. Ricketts points out that like the rest of the world, there is a high prevalence of diabetes in Dominica – 17.7% of the population. That is about 7,000 people, a large number of whom, she says, have some sort of eye problem.
“About 30% of diabetics have some form of eye problem because of diabetic retinopathy and 10% of them, that problem is threatening their vision,” Dr. Rickett states. “One percent of diabetics are blind because of the diabetic retinopathy.”
Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication that affects the eyes. It’s caused by damage to the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (retina).
She identified the risk factors for diabetic retinopathy as very high blood sugar, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and if one has been suffering from diabetes for some time.
” So as you have diabetes and the years go by, the risk increases. So persons that have diabetes for twenty years, about 80% of them will have some form of retinopathy compared to those who have diabetes for five years,” she added. “If you have kidney disease and if you’re on insulin therapy, all these are risk factors that lead to diabetic retinopathy.”
Dr. Rickett says that diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among Dominica’s working population which is between 18 and 60 years.
“Now our working population is important for supporting their families, supporting their communities and the nation. So, it really hits at the economy of the country and hence the importance of us trying to reduce the risk of blindness because we know 90% of the blindness from diabetic retinopathy is preventable and we can avoid that,” Dr. Ricketts admonished.
She added, “Instead of working and contributing to the finances of their households, these blind persons now have to draw down on the reduced income of their family. They cannot manage their homes; they cannot drive so this really affects their living every day.”
The Consultant Opthalmologist stresses the need for policies and services to enable blind people to live independent productive, satisfying lives.
“Beacuse…..most of them live with their families but most of them do not have access to vocational, rehabilitation and occupational therapy. There are limited services to help them cope with losing vision,” she stated, adding that blindness is one of the most common reasons for people to be admitted to institutions such as the infirmary and other homes and programmes such as the Yes We Care Programme.
She also identified limited access to the workforce as another challenge which blind people face.
“A lot of the blind people can still work but our employers do not provide opportunities for blind persons to work, ” Dr. Ricketts maintains. “Many of them do not qualify for pensions or disabilities because they have not worked long enough to qualify for social security pensions and disability benefits because remember, it is the working age group. If you stop working before you reach the age of retirement, you are reducing the number of weeks that qualify you to get pension or disability benefits.”
Dr. Ricketts has some advice for diabetics on how to prevent blindness.
“Their first line of their disease to prevent blindness is to control their blood sugar, control their blood pressure and cholesterol, weight loss with appropriate portion size and increased physical activity”, she says. “It is also known to succeed at those life-style changes, it is good to have a feedback where they are monitored…if they know somebody is monitoring them..or encouraging them, it will be easier for them to achieve those goals.”
The Opthalmologist also recommends annual eye screening to detect diabetic retinopathy, as a must for all diabetics and encourages them to take advantage of the National Diabetic Funders Retinopathy Screening Programme which she says, is part of the primary health care system and is available to all diabetics.
“Diabetic retinopathy is a diabetes complication that affects the eyes. It’s caused by damage to the blood vessels of the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (retina). ”
That is a 100% correct: The reason is due to very high levels of blood glucose (sugar) which blocks the tiny blood vessels in the retina which is in the back of the eye!
As such in order to compensate for the loss of blood supply, the eye develops new vessels which do not function well, and cause leakage of the blood leading to vision problems, or complete blindness.
Whereas the doctor has done an excellent job providing this information relating to the eye and blindness; one should not forget. Consistent high levels of blood glucose will cause damage to our internal organs, such as the heart and kidneys. Heart disease could mean death; there is no pleasure in kidney dialysis three times per week.
Whereas there is no cure, it can be controlled: I recommend insulin; rather than sulfonylurea…
Saying hellos Dr. Shillingford Ricketts.
A competent docter. One who cares about the people she serves.
Admin when people who knows what they are talking about, are censored in favor of senseless garbage, the people who read that nonsense believe it ; walk away with fake and false information that will serve them no purpose.
I responded to someone who wrote on your site that diabetes, is preventable; it is still on your site as misinformation!
Diabetes is not a preventable disease; because it is a heredity disease!
I reiterate I am a born a diabetic, it is a genetic disease, it is in my DNA; (Deoxyribonucleic Acid).
I will say as many medical scientist believe Diabetes is caused by a damage gene. Any doctor who say otherwise is not much of a doctor!
For this man to say diabetes is epidemic in Dominica is nonsense, because it is pandemic; there are more than 347 million people in the world with diabetes; of that amount there are 17.9 million people in the United States with diabetes, I am one of them!
It is estimated another 5.7 million people are undiagnosed.
SUGAR… too much SUGAR!!!
i’m shocked at the amount of sugar people use in juice and tea as well as the worst of all soda.
This is a very important contribution by Dr, Rickets.. We ought to share more information on need for appropriate diet and exercise… A lot of sewo and bon temps is not good..
We lived in Dominica for 6 years. We noticed how hard it is to obtain non-sugared breakfast cereal and non-sugar candy. We also saw the typical lifestyle, which involved excessive alcohol consumption and excessive sugar consumption. And we noticed that the preventable disease diabetes was practically epidemic.
Dominicans, change you lifestyle!
“And we noticed that the preventable disease diabetes was practically epidemic.”(Dan Tanner).
Dan you are an idiot who do not know squat about what you are talking about; I am a diabetic, okay, I was born a diabetic; so just shut up!
I have a medical background, and can teach you somethings about diabetes that could help you to shut up!
How can you prevent a disease that is 100% of the time hereditary; something to which some people are predisposed, it is in their deoxyribonucleic acid “DNA.”
Traumatic events in some cases caused some people to developed diabetes. I will not suggest that one should mot maintain a balance diet; nevertheless, if a poor diet was mainly the cause of diabetes, everyone in America; North and South America in general would have diabetes: developed from the poor diet they maintain; the same would apply to people in Europe.
It is genetic disease caused by a damage gene, can you alter ones DNA, or repair a damage gene?
Man shut up!