Light flashes, or photopsia, occur when the retina is getting mechanical, non-visual stimulation, as in the case of a retina getting tugged, pulled or detached. That’s what causes the light flashes and should not be ignored.

Diabetes-based Eye Disease

Diabetic retinopathy is simply a disease of the retina caused by diabetes. It is one of the most common eye diseases and is the leading cause of blindness in American adults. Some 40 percent to 45 percent of diabetics have a degree of retinopathy, which is caused by changes in blood vessels in the eye’s retina.

There’s a type of diabetic retinopathy where the blood vessel walls in the eyeball get weak which leads to blood and other fluids leaking into the retina. This could lead to distortion of the eyeball causing blurred vision. If blood sugar continues to rise, the disease will get worse.

Another type of retinopathy is called “proliferative retinopathy.” In this condition, blood vessels regrow on the retina but are weak and typically abnormally fragile. These vessels break open very easily, often while one sleeps. Blood seeps to the middle section of the eye, resulting in blurred vision. Bleeding can cause scar tissue to develop and retinal detachment.

As is easy to envision, retinopathy can cause swelling of the eye's macula. The macula is in the back part of the eyeball, located above the retina, where sharp, straight-ahead vision occurs.

As you can imagine, any increase in blood pressure in a patient with proliferative diabetic retinopathy endangers the[AZ1]  frail blood vessels in the eye. An increase in blood pressure can cause more damage to weakened blood vessels, resulting in more leaking blood or other fluids. This can further cloud your eyesight, leading to permanent blindness.