Type 2 diabetic having lazer surgery

by Charlie Warden
(Antioch, TN. USA)

QUESTION: Have been battling type 2 diabetes for over 15 years. Have gone thru oral meds to insulin injections.


My a1c has been anywhere from 11.0 down to 7.3. I cant seem to be consistent with my glucose levels. Im not overweight and love to run, bike and golf. I work sometimes too much.

My biggest complaint is I have been having vision problems for 3 or 4 years. I had lazer surgery on 1 eye and the Dr. wants to do the other eye. I can tell you that after the 1st surgery I cant hardly see a straight line anymore.

I cant afford to have this problem with my second eye because I make a living with my vision. I work on very small items under a microscope. I feel like that my blurry vision started when Lantus was prescribed. I take 40u at bedtime and 14u of Novolog with each meal.

Any help would really be appreciated!!!


ANSWER: Hi there,

As far as I can see, you are experiencing one of the diabetic complications - retinopathy. As you probably know, this condition develops in patients who have been diagnosed with diabetes for more than 10 years, just like you.

The bad thing is that this condition is progressive, which means that the symptoms like vision loss or blurred vision will become more
serious with the time.

It is good that you have gone through the laser operation of your eye, because it is the most effective one. I’m sure that it is not pleasant for someone to have vision changes after such operation, but this is pretty common in patients with diabetes.

However, no one can guarantee you that this won’t happen with the other eye of yours, after another laser operation.

In addition, I will suggest you to start using vitamin A, a product named BIlberry and of course to speak with your doctor about Aldose-Reductase inhibitors and antioxidants, which may improve your condition.

The bad thing is that those medications and herbs are going to help you for certain period and at certain point, you will be obligated to put yourself under laser operation.

I hope that everything is going to be ok after the second operation and you will have improvement in your vision.

Besides this, I have to remind you that having better control of your blood glucose level will minimize the symptoms of the retinopathy of yours.

So, try to keep your blood glucose level within the normal ranges with drug treatment, exercises, diet and herbs eventually.

This along with the therapy for your retinopathy will improve your vision, but this won’t be permanent. At some point the laser operation will be obligatory for you.

Hope it helped!

Dr.Alba

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