Diabetes is the number one cause of new adult blindness in the United States.

Something many of us aren't aware of.

Pat Berg is a Shawano County man, who's been living with type two diabetes for more than 10 years. He invited us along to his eye exam, to show us how important it is to make sure he sees or not.

"I was working on a job site a number of years ago," he says.

"All of the sudden I couldn't pick up a piece of brush I couldn't hardly move I said to the guy I was working with there's something wrong, you've gotta take me to the clinic. My blood sugar was at 600 and it should be normally about 100, that's when I found out I was diabetic," explains Pat.

"When I look back, I was drinking a lot of water that's one of the symptoms and I lost probably 10-15 pounds, those are 2 indications of diabetes. Right now I'm taking medication about a year ago I started taking insulin a shot in the morning and a shot in the evening," says Berg.

Now Pat is back in construction living a more healthy life.

"I'm doing just fine with that thanks to the wonderful care of my eye doctor for one." Berg says.

Every year, Pat goes to Doctor Sarazen's office in Wausau to check his eyes, because the disease could possibly Rob him of his sight.

"There's generally two things the patient will complain of - often they complain of just blurred vision and," says Dr. Sarazen, "The second most common complaint is that they see some large spots in front of their vision."

"We have an instrument in the office called an Optomap which allows us a to take a digital picture of the eye it spans out 200 degrees," says Dr. Sarazen.

This high-tech device can track early signs of diabetes.

Doctor Sarazen can't stress enough the importance of yearly eye exams for everyone.

It's one way of catching if you have it, or protecting yourself if you do.

"I don't have any problem living with it it's a disease that doesn't have a cure but if you take care of yourself see your doctor regularly, you can live a normal life," says Berg.

Doctor Sarazen says you should not only get your eyes checked, it often starts with the family doctor.

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