Cardiovascular Disease (commonly known as “diabetic heart”)

Continuous excessive blood glucose level will affect a patient's cardiovascular health. When the blood glucose level is too high for a long time, the glucose will combine with the protein and become an "advanced glycation end product", which is harmful to the body. Excessive "advanced glycation end products" accumulated in the blood vessels will cause hardening of the blood vessels. If the lipid level is too high, the thickness of the blood will be increased, or the blood vessels will shrink rapidly due to the cold weather, which can easily lead to stroke and myocardial infarction. A number of studies have pointed out that people with diabetes are two to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than healthy people, and about a quarter of those with diabetes eventually die from cardiovascular disease. Therefore, in recent years, the medical profession has advocated that besides controlling the blood glucose level, attention must be paid to cardiovascular health too.

Diabetic Nephropathy (commonly known as “diabetic kidney”)

Diabetic nephropathy may eventually lead to kidney failure. In the early stage, there are usually no obvious symptoms, and it progresses slowly. The initial stage is microalbuminuria. Some patients may have more foam in the urine, and then there is persistent proteinuria. When the condition is further aggravated, the kidney function will be damaged (indicators such as creatinine and blood urea nitrogen will be raised), There will be edema, renal hypertension, and eventually, severe renal failure and uremia will result. Under this circumstance, patients must receive dialysis treatment or kidney transplantation. Decreased renal function also increases the risk of other diabetes-related complications, such as hypoglycemia and cardiovascular disease. Diabetic nephropathy is one of the leading causes of death in diabetic patients.

Diabetic Retinopathy (commonly known as “diabetes eye”)

Long-term hyperglycemia can damage the endothelium of retinal blood vessels, causing a series of fundus lesions, such as micro-angioma, hard exudation, glaucoma, neovascularization, vitreous hemorrhage, and even retinal detachment. "Diabetes eye" can be divided into non-proliferative diabetic retina There are two types of lesions and proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR)

Non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, which belongs to the early to mid-stage of the diabetic eye. The damage of retinal blood vessels causes exudation of blood and blood proteins, and the vascular walls may protrude like balloons. Although the vision of patients in this stage is generally normal, there is an opportunity to cause yellow spots edema due to protein exudation in the yellow spots, which makes the patient's vision blurred. This is commonly known as "diabetic macular edema".

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR)

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy, which is a severe degree of the diabetic eye. The capillary blood vessels of the retina are occluded, causing hypoxia in the retina. New blood vessels will be proliferated in the retina or optic nerve. But the new blood vessels are fragile and prone to rupture. If the blood flows into the vitreous due to rupture of the blood vessel, the patient's vision will be unclear. If the bleeding cannot be controlled, the patient's vision will drop rapidly and may cause retinal detachment or even blindness.

Diabetic Peripheral neuropathy (commonly known as “DPN”)

Because of long-term metabolic disorders, the vascular system is affected, causing neurological diseases. Classification and diagnosis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy are not completely unified because of its variety of symptoms. Common symptoms include tingling, flaming or numbness in fingers, arms and lower limbs. If the pain persists, daily life will be affected, for example, insomnia or emotional problems (such as anxiety, depression). Late sequelae include foot ulcers, Charcot neuropathic osteoarthropathy, and even amputation.

Diabetic Ulcer (also known as diabetic foot)

In the early stage of diabetic ulcer, only the wound is difficult to heal. It takes a long time, sometimes even one or two years. If the blood glucose level is poorly controlled, the wound can easily be fallen into a vicious circle. The ability of stem cell regeneration is reduced, the activity of autologous white blood cells and pathogens breeding are increased, and increase, resulting new cells cannot survive in the wound and making the wound bigger. Diabetic ulcers are susceptible to infection, enlargement, darkening, and may eventually require amputation to remove the diseased limb.