Surgery could reverse obesity-related eye damage

The findings, presented at this year’s meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), were the result of an investigation into the effects of weight loss on the retinal microvasculature of 22 obese subjects who underwent bariatric surgery. Their results were compared with 15 lean, age-matched controls.Detailed eye examinations were performed at the start of the study, and again six months later, to look for signs of obesity-related impairments to the vascular structure of the retina. Specifically, the team was looking for symptoms such as narrowing of the arterioles that carry blood from the arteries to the capillary beds, and widening of the venules that return the blood from the capillaries to the larger veins.In the six months following the surgery, the obese subjects lost an average of 26kg and also showed improvents in the microvasculature of their retinas. Arteriolar narrowing and venular widening were both less pronounced, whereas no such changes took place in the control group.There were no changes in the surgery group for tortuosity, branching angles or fractal dimension, according to researchers.The authors concluded that: “The findings suggest obesity-related microvascular changes are reversible after bariatric surgery induced weight loss. The capacity for the retinal microvasculature to improve following bariatric surgery suggests plasticity of the human microvasculature early in the disease course.”