Retinal Vascular Disease

If you have heart problems or diabetes, you’re also more likely to develop a retinal vascular disease. At Apex Retina Institute, located in Long Beach, California, board-certified ophthalmologist Darren Knight, MD, and the team provide complete care for retinal vascular disease, including intravitreal medications and laser surgery. Dr. Knight can help you identify potential risk factors and prevent the condition from worsening. Call Apex Retina Institute today to receive treatment for macular degeneration, or book your appointment online.

What is a retinal vascular disease?

Retinal vascular disease is an umbrella term for a group of chronic conditions that affect the blood vessels in the eyes. If the blood vessels in your eyes don’t function normally, you’re more likely to experience poor vision or vision loss.

Anyone can develop a retinal vascular disease, but it’s most common in people with underlying health problems, such as hypertension (high blood pressure), atherosclerosis, and poor circulation.

What are the types of retinal vascular disease?

Dr. Knight and the Apex Retina Institute team treat various types of retinal vascular disease, including:

Diabetic retinopathy

This type of vascular disease occurs because of untreated diabetes. High blood sugar levels cause the blood vessels in your retina to get clogged. Your body creates new blood vessels to compensate, but they’re smaller, more fragile, and likely to leak. If the new blood vessels near your retina leak, it causes permanent retinal damage and, ultimately, vision loss.

Hypertensive retinopathy

Hypertensive retinopathy occurs because of high blood pressure. It causes the walls of the blood vessels in your eyes to thicken and narrow. These changes affect your retina and put extra strain on your optic nerve, resulting in vision loss.

Retinal vein occlusion (RVO)

RVO occurs when one or more of the veins in your retina becomes clogged or blocked. The blockage causes your vein (or veins) to hemorrhage and leak, damaging your retina.

Central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO)

CRAO occurs when one or more of the arteries in your retina becomes blocked. Arteries deliver oxygen-rich blood to different parts of your body. But if an artery is clogged, your eye doesn’t receive the necessary oxygen, resulting in poor vision or vision loss.

How is a retinal vascular disease diagnosed?

Dr. Knight reviews your medical records, asks about your symptoms, and completes an eye exam. He also orders several tests, including fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography (OCT), to get a closer look at your macula and retina (the structures at the back of your eye).

How is a retinal vascular disease treated?

Treatment of a retinal vascular disease depends on your age, the type of disease you have, and its effect on your vision.

Dr. Knight and the Apex Retina Institute team may recommend:

• Healthy lifestyle changes, like quitting smoking
• Retinal lasers to seal leaking blood vessels at the back of your eye
• Vitrectomy, a type of surgery that removes a hemorrhage from the retinal area 
• Anti-VEGF drugs (a class of medications that relieve eye swelling and restore vision)

In some cases, the team recommends eye injections.

Call Apex Retina Institute today to receive treatment for retinal vascular disease, or make your appointment online.