Twenty-two patients received a free diabetic eye screening on April 12 at the community clinic in Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke to determine if they are showing any signs of diabetic retinopathy — also known as diabetic eye disease.
Dr. Nick Lee, an ophthalmologist, used a machine designed to photograph the back of the eye to look for damage in patients’ capillaries due to diabetes.
Dr. Lee worked with a JVD nurse and three members of the Diabetes Association to host the screening.
The event, which was the sixth of its kind held in the Virgin Islands, “ran extremely well,” Dr. Lee said.
He added that the screening identified “a number of people that we have recommended needed further treatment and also highlighted many diabetics having elevated sugars and elevated blood pressures that the clinic nurse was able to attend to at the same time.”
The next screening will be held on Aug. 14 in Anegada, according to the ophthalmologist.
In total, over the past six diabetic eye screenings, 150 patients have been seen, he said.
Of those, 45 percent had “some form of retinopathy,” and 35 percent needed “referral to the clinic for further management,” he said.
Ten of the patients needed “laser and the occasional surgical intervention,” according to Dr. Lee.
