Diabetes more than retinopathy, it’s effect on the anterior segment of eye
Arvind Kumar Morya, Prasanna Venkatesh Ramesh, Kirandeep Kaur, Bharat Gurnani, Aarti Heda, Karan Bhatia, Aprajita Sinha
Abstract
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the chronic metabolic noncommunicable diseases that has attained worldwide epidemics. It threatens healthy life around the globe, with mild-to-severe secondary complications and leads to significant illness including nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy, and macrovascular abnormalities including peripheral vasculopathy, and ischaemic heart disease. Research into diabetic retinopathy (DR), which affects one-third of persons with diabetes, has made considerable strides in recent years. In addition, it can lead to several anterior segment complications such as glaucoma, cataract, cornea, conjunctiva, lacrimal glands and other ocular surface diseases. Uncontrolled DM also caused gradual damage to corneal nerves and epithelial cells, which raises the likelihood of anterior segment diseases including corneal ulcers, dry eye disease, and chronic epithelial abnormalities. Although DR and other associated ocular complications are well-known, the complexity of its aetiology and diagnosis makes therapeutic intervention challenging. Strict glycaemic control, early detection and regular screening, and meticulous management is the key to halting the progression of the disease. In this review manuscript, we aim to provide an in-depth understanding of the broad spectrum of diabetic complications in the anterior segment of the ocular tissues and illustrate the progression of diabetes and its pathophysiology, epidemiology, and prospective therapeutic targets. This first such review article will highlight the role of diagnosing and treating patients with a plethora of anterior segment diseases associated with diabetes, which are often neglected.