1. Diabetes affects the eyes of 20% of all those affected by it. Although it is said that it takes 10 years for diabetes to affect the eye, one may not be sure as to when the diabetes first started.
2. Diabetes affects the blood vessels of the retina making them leaky i.e. they start leaking fluid or blood and some abnormal weak blood vessels may also form which are prone to rupture & bleed inside the eye.
3. Laser is a strong, focused beam of light of single colour. It directly or indirectly destroys the leaking blood vessels and prevents the formation of abnormal blood vessels.
4. Laser is not helpful in every stage of diabetic retinopathy (D.R). Very early cases of D.R don't need laser treatment, while advanced cases may not be helped by doing the laser.
5. Laser treatment of retina is done in different 1-4 stages (sittings) at some intervals so that the eye can withstand the strong effect of laser beams.
6. There is no proven role of any oral drugs or bodily injections in cure of D.R., however, certain new anticancer (actually Anti-VEGF e.g. Avastin, Lucentis) injections are now given inside the eye in certain stages of DR under sterile conditions in the operation theatre. These may have to be commonly repeated.
7. Laser also cannot `cure' the disease but helps to control the process to prevent further visual loss and prevent major bleeding inside the eye.
8. All patients may not respond well to laser treatment as it may still fail to stop the progression of disease in-spite of multiple sittings of laser treatment.
9. Full effect of laser generally takes 2-3 months to come.
10. Some patients may experience some blurring of vision especially increase in inability to read after laser treatment especially if central part of the retina (i.e. macula) is already involved or damaged. This decrease may be temporary for 2-3 months or may improve slightly or not at all in next few weeks.
11. Side effects of laser treatment include difficulty in night vision, slight initial increase in impairment of vision, failure to control the disease, etc.
12. Laser treatment is generally a painless procedure with each sitting lasting for about 10-20 minutes.
13. No bandaging is done after laser treatment and patient can resume his normal activities from the same day itself. Eye drops need to be put for about 10-14 days after laser treatment.
14. Postoperatively, if patient is prone to bleeding inside the eye, he should avoid doing excessive physical jerking.
Regular follow-up every 3-6 months throughout the lifetime is must even after laser. Repeat Angiography (FA) & laser are often required.