Eyeglasses show impact of diabetic retinopathy

A set of snap-together glasses designed by students at Rice University lets people with diabetes see into the future and know that without proper care, the future does not look good.

The educational tool developed by the Eye See You See team will help doctors show patients how their vision could deteriorate over time due to diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that can result from uncontrolled diabetes and lead to blindness. They hope the tool will encourage patients to follow their doctors’ protocols.

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[cerealkiller]

I have prolific diabetic retinopathy. I've had type 1 since 1999 at the age of 10. When I turned 29 it started as dark spots and eventually my left eye hemorrhaged. 2 months later my right eye hemorrhaged. There were no longer dark spots but it's like looking through incredibly cloudy water or like when your windshield is completely fogged up. You can still see light and silhouettes but you can't read or tell really what anything is. I had surgery on both eyes and a laser treatment. My right eye is doing great although I need glasses to see distant objects. My left eye keeps hemorrhaging periodically which I can't do much about other than wait for the blood to drain over weeks and weeks. Just last night it bled again after no incident for nearly 2 years and there are floating strands of blood I can see which make it more annoying. I too wish I could've been informed more of these dangers with diabetes. I was only ever told oh you could go blind and that's it. I never knew the process or how common it is or anything. I just hope other diabetics please check up with your eyes every single year.

[psychotogen]

My eye doctor mentioned retinopathy a few months ago, but i told him I wasn't diabetic. Fast forward, I went to the ER this week with a diabetic emergency. I wonder how long I've had this condition. I have the floaters, blurry vision, Light sensitivity and sometimes severe eye pain all in my left eye only. This was interesting

[chelseaalexis]

As a diabetic with retinopathy, I find this sort of awful. I get 6our intent, but it's misdirected. I think a patient WITH early retinopathy would like this as an insight to what they can expect as their disease progresses. But this isn't the right approach to educating a diabetic- especially a Type 1 diabetic. This to me is more fear mongering. I knew at 11 this would happen as over 65% of type 1s get this. The intent of these students is to educate patients but type 1s are very very aware of what their future holds. You don't take 5-10 injections a day, del with constant bouts of hypo and hyperglycemia that isn't your fault and nearly die in your sleep and just think, but that one eye thing will never happen to me. We know. Scare tactics aren't necessary, even if they come in hipster frames from young, well meaning people.

[jimothyscrumps]

Well it would be nice to see what going blind feels like, thanks a lot random chance!

[mallorychambliss]

As if diabetics aren’t shamed enough. I hate this so much.