You first may notice diabetic retinopathy (DR) or other eye problems related to diabetes when you have symptoms such as:
Fluctuating vision
Eye floaters and spots
Development of a scotoma or shadow in your field of view
Blurry and/or distorted vision
Corneal abnormalities such as slow healing of wounds due to corneal abrasions
Double vision
Eye pain
Near vision problems unrelated to presbyopia
Cataracts
During an eye examination, your eye doctor will look for other signs of diabetic retinopathy and diabetic eye disease. Signs of eye damage found in the retina can include swelling, deposits and evidence of bleeding or leakage of fluids from blood vessels.
Your eye doctor will use a special camera or other imaging device to photograph the retina and look for telltale signs of diabetes-related damage. In some cases, he or she may refer you to a retinal specialist for additional testing and possible treatment.
For a definitive diagnosis, you may need to undergo a test called a fluorescein angiography. In this test, a dye is injected into your arm intravenously and gradually appears in the blood vessels of the retina, where it is illuminated to detect diabetes-related blood vessel changes and blood leakage in the retina.
One sometimes overlooked symptom of diabetic eye disease is nerve damage (neuropathy) affecting ocular muscles that control eye movements. Symptoms can include involuntary eye movement (nystagmus) and double vision.