EP #8: Understanding Diabetes: An Eye on Vision Loss

Get ready for a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Laura Falco, who shines a light on the alarming issue of diabetes and its impact on vision. A pressing concern, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in working-age Americans and it's not just the elderly who are at risk. With over 10% of the U.S population affected, and lifestyles becoming more sedentary, especially during the pandemic, the prevalence of diabetes is on the rise.

Dr. Falco doesn't hold back as she discusses the challenges of maintaining a healthy lifestyle in today's society. From the difficulty in accessing healthier foods to the shortage of endocrinologists, there's a lot to unpack. What's more, Dr. Falco highlights the importance of early detection and regular eye checks for diabetics, alluding to some serious eye complications that can occur if left unchecked. Get ready to have your eyes opened to the critical connection between diabetes and vision. Don't miss this episode as we delve into an area of health that needs more attention. Tune in and stay informed!

For more information visit: JazzyEyes.com

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Jazzy Eyes podcast.
Taking care of your vision withexpert precision.
Here's your host, dr LauraFalco.

Jeremy (00:15):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Jazzy Eyes
podcast.
I'm your cohost, jeremy Wolfe,and I'm joined by your host, dr
Laura Falco.
Dr Falco, always a pleasure.

Dr. Falco (00:25):
Good morning.

Jeremy (00:27):
How are you today?

Dr. Falco (00:28):
I'm good.
How about yourself?

Jeremy (00:30):
Doing well.
It is Monday yes, very excitedfor a productive week, and I
think we have a fitting topictoday, with Halloween shortly to
be in the rearview mirror.
You're going to talk a littlebit about November.
Is Diabetes Awareness Month,correct?
So this is a topic that I knowvery little about.

(00:51):
I certainly know even less whatit pertains to the actual eyes,
so please share with us, let usknow, what's on your mind.

Dr. Falco (01:02):
So, yeah, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness
in the United States for workingage Americans.
I think that's really importantto understand.
Like, we're talking aboutpeople who you know, the country
loses GDP productivity becausethis is happening younger and

(01:25):
younger.
This is affecting people whoare of working age not, you know
, 85, like younger people whothen cannot work, and that is a
trickle down right that affectseverything.
So I think it's important tounderstand.
Right now, as we know it,there's probably there are a

(01:48):
little over 37 million patientsdiagnosed with diabetes.
However, there's an additional8 million patients who are
currently undiagnosed diabetics37 million, not in the US alone,
right?

Jeremy (02:04):
You're talking about 37 million in the United States
alone, out of a population 8million yeah, 8 million
undiagnosed right today in thiscountry.

Dr. Falco (02:14):
So we're talking about 45 million Americans.

Jeremy (02:18):
That's like 10%, more than 10% of the population.
More than 10%?
I would have never thought.

Dr. Falco (02:24):
Yeah, we're, we are.
If you look at the graphs weare itching our way towards.
14% of our population isdiabetic and the pandemic made
it worse.
I think they're still figuringout whether or not COVID had a
predilection for kidneys andpossibly pancreas, affecting

(02:49):
increasing the rate of diabetes.
But I think what the pandemicdid also was made people more
sedentary and they're notcommuting and they're not
walking from the parking lot totheir office and they're not
walking from their office to thebathroom and they're sitting at
home.
So I think I mean I know themain three driving factors of

(03:11):
diabetes in this diabetes inthis country.
You've got obesity we are moreobese due to physical inactivity
, which working from homedoesn't help right.
And the food.
It's sad that we, if you wantto eat healthy, that you're
gonna spend ten times more.
It's sad that you know you canget these really really cheap

(03:34):
things to eat For money.
You know like that are not goodfor you, but then if you want
to go in and actually try to getthe healthier foods, it's going
to cost you a lot more.

Jeremy (03:45):
So the isn't it another problem?
So to cut you off that a lot oftimes in our country in this
day and age, you might thinkyou're eating something that's
healthy, but the way it'sproduced and manufactured with,
yeah, it's just really not.
So it's harder and harder toactually determine if something
is even healthy for you when youthink it might be.

Dr. Falco (04:07):
Yeah, no, it's really .
It's really hard to determine.
You know, and even if you'refollowing the news, you know.
It's something just as simpleas oh my god, don't eat any egg
yolks cholesterol than okay, no,egg yolks are good.

Jeremy (04:19):
You have the cholesterol I mean it's good, Great, we
need the cholesterol.

Dr. Falco (04:23):
Now they're seeing increased rates of dementia and
Alzheimer's and patients who areon statin drugs because Turns
out, we need cholesterol in ourbrain.
So eat the egg.
So, even if you're, you'll makeyourself crazy, you know Like
it's, it's very hard and it's ait's a full-time job to really
try to eat clean.
You can only do the best thatyou can do and I and I get it.
But unfortunately, you know,diabetes is is soaring and

(04:50):
there's not enoughendocrinologists in the area.
You know I have most of mypatient I don't even know it's
half and half.
Half of them are managed bytheir primary care doctor, half
of them are probably managed byan endocrinologist and Some are
managed by a cardiologist, likeit's crazy.
So the patients sometimesreally don't have the most

(05:13):
up-to-date Medications becausethey're being managed on
outdated medications, becausereally there's not enough
endocrinologists, because thepopulation is exploding with
diabetes and that's that's thedoctor who's really specialized,
you know, to manage that andit's, and we're seeing it in our
office more and more and moreand we're seeing complications

(05:34):
in the back of the eye fromdiabetes more and more and more.
So I think it's a reallyimportant topic, you know,
knowing Halloween is coming, youknow, because we really do want
to make sure people understandthat it is.
It does affect the eyes.
It affects the eyes in a coupleof different ways and, like
every condition that affects theeyes, early detection of Any

(05:59):
changes in the back of the eyeis key to managing the changes
we can see from diabetes andpreventing Sometimes permanent
loss of vision due to Diabetes.
So it's super important thatpatients who are diabetic have
an at least an annual eye exam,including a dilated procedure,

(06:24):
every year, because the entireretina in the back of the eye is
at risk and we need to monitorEvery year every patient that is
a diabetic, sometimes morefrequently than once a year, but
at a minimum once a year.
And In our office we have adiabetic summary report that we
will send to Whoever's managingthe diabetes to keep everybody

(06:49):
on the same page so they knowthat how the patient is doing in
the back of the eye.

Jeremy (06:54):
All right, let's end here, because this is a very
broad topic and we want to getto the sink, then we'll pick it
up on another segment.
All right, thanks everyone fortuning in and we'll see you next
time.
Take care.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Thank you for listening to the jazzy eyes
podcast.
For more information, visitjazzy eyes calm or contact 954
473 0100.
Welcome to the jazzy eyespodcast.

(07:35):
Taking care of your vision withexpert precision, here's your
host, dr Laura Falco.