Vision problems on rise among young diabetics

T

he Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Service for Wales has reported a worrying rise in children developing problems with their vision as a result of diabetes.

A BBC News report stated that surgeons in Wales were having to give sight-saving treatment to patients in their late teens and 20s struggling to control their diabetes. Diagnosed cases of diabetes in Wales have doubled to 160,000 in eight years following the start of a national screening programme.

Its director, Rosemarie Keigwin-Harris, told the BBC that it was seeing a doubling in the number of younger people diagnosed with diabetes, with just over 1,400 patients under the age of 12 having the disease. While the vast majority have type one diabetes, there are over 200 children who have developed type two diabetes.