Blog post by: Eye Physicians of Long Beach

Mark Andrews checks his blood sugar about 30 times during a football game.

Think about that for a second. The Baltimore Ravens tight end has three Pro Bowls, a First-Team All-Pro season, and, as of last December, the franchise’s all-time records for catches, receiving yards, and touchdowns. He has also been living with Type 1 diabetes since he was 9 years old. He plays with a continuous glucose monitor. He pricks his finger on the sideline between drives. And he has never let any of it slow him down.

This offseason, while getting ready for the 2026 season, Andrews is using his platform for something that has nothing to do with football and everything to do with the rest of his life: his eyesight. He’s partnered with Genentech as a paid spokesperson to talk about a condition called diabetic macular edema, or DME, and his message is about as simple as it gets. Get your eyes checked every year. As he put it in a recent interview, diabetes “is a 24/7 disease and something that never goes away.” In his view, vision screenings need to be part of managing it.

We see patients with diabetes every day at our Long Beach office, so we’ll be honest: we love hearing this from someone with his reach. Here’s why it matters so much.

So What Exactly Is DME?

Let’s back up to the basics. When blood sugar runs high for years, it slowly damages the tiny blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensing layer at the back of your eye. That’s diabetic retinopathy, the most common eye disease in people with diabetes. Those damaged vessels start to leak.

Now, the center of your retina has a small area called the macula. It handles all of your sharp, straight-ahead vision: reading, driving, recognizing your grandkid’s face across the room. When fluid from those leaky vessels seeps into the macula and makes it swell, that’s diabetic macular edema.

It’s more common than most people realize. Roughly 750,000 Americans have it, and about 1 in 14 people with diabetes will develop it. It doesn’t matter whether you have Type 1 or Type 2, and it can show up at any stage of retinopathy. The longer you’ve had diabetes, the higher your risk. It also doesn’t affect everyone equally: people of color are two to three times more likely to develop serious vision problems from diabetes.

Left untreated, DME is one of the leading causes of vision loss in people with diabetes. That’s the bad news. The good news is coming, but first, the catch.

Here’s the Catch: You Probably Won’t Feel It Coming

The most dangerous thing about diabetic eye disease isn’t the damage itself. It’s the silence.

In the early stages, there are often no symptoms at all. None. Your vision can seem perfectly fine while trouble is quietly building in the back of your eye. By the time you notice blurry central vision, wavy lines, faded colors, or dark spots, the disease has usually been at work for a while.

That’s the whole reason annual exams exist. During a dilated exam, we can see changes in your retina long before you’d ever notice them yourself. With imaging like OCT (a quick, painless scan), we can spot even subtle swelling in the macula. Catching it early is the entire ballgame.

And the numbers back this up in a big way: with early detection and timely treatment, more than 90% of diabetes-related vision loss is preventable. Ninety percent. Yet only about half the people who should be getting screened actually are.

When Should You Be Examined?

The guidelines from the American Diabetes Association and the American Academy of Ophthalmology are straightforward:

  • Type 1 diabetes: first dilated exam within 5 years of diagnosis, then every year.
  • Type 2 diabetes: dilated exam right at diagnosis, because Type 2 often develops silently for years before it’s caught, then every year.
  • Pregnancy with pre-existing diabetes: an exam before pregnancy or early in the first trimester, with close monitoring after that.

If we find any retinopathy, we may want to see you more often. And what you do between visits matters enormously: the landmark DCCT study found that tight blood sugar control cut the risk of developing retinopathy by 76%. Managing blood pressure, staying active, and not smoking all help protect your sight too.

If You Do Have DME, There’s Real Hope

This is where the story has changed dramatically, even in just the last decade. A DME diagnosis used to feel like a countdown. Not anymore.

The first-line treatment today is a class of medications called anti-VEGF injections: Avastin, Lucentis, Eylea, Eylea HD, and Vabysmo. They block the protein that causes retinal vessels to leak. Yes, it’s an injection into the eye, and yes, everyone winces the first time they hear that. But after numbing drops, most patients feel a moment of pressure, not pain, and the whole thing takes seconds. Treatment usually starts monthly and then gets spaced out as the swelling improves. The newer medications, like Vabysmo and Eylea HD, can often stretch that interval even further.

For patients who need something different, we have steroid options, including slow-release implants, and laser treatment still plays a role in select cases. Many patients don’t just keep the vision they have; they get some back.

None of it replaces good diabetes management, though. The injections treat the leak. Your blood sugar control protects the plumbing.

Take a Page From Mark Andrews’ Playbook

Andrews has spent nearly his whole life proving that diabetes doesn’t get to write your story. But notice what he’s telling people now that he has the microphone: stay vigilant, and get your eyes checked every year.

If you or someone you love is living with diabetes and it’s been more than a year since your last dilated eye exam, or if you’ve never had one, this is your nudge. Even if your vision feels fine. Especially if your vision feels fine.

Our team at Eye Physicians of Long Beach provides complete diabetic eye care, from annual screenings and retinal imaging to the full range of DME treatments. Give us a call. It’s one appointment, and it might save your sight.

Eye Physicians of Long Beach
2925 Palo Verde Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90815
562.799.2020

This article is for general educational purposes and isn’t a substitute for personalized medical advice. Mark Andrews is a paid spokesperson for Genentech; Eye Physicians of Long Beach is not affiliated with Mr. Andrews or Genentech.