A recent study has found that early eye damage caused by obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes can potentially be reversed through bariatric surgery.

Changes to the vascular structure of the retina often reflect damage caused by obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. Despite the prevalence of these conditions, the impact of weight loss from bariatric surgery on the retinal microvasculature is not well understood.

Lead author Robyn Tapp, from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and Leeds Beckett University, UK, along with Dr. Antti Viljanen of Turku University, Finland, and colleagues from Finland, Singapore, Hong Kong, and London, studied the effects of weight loss on the retinal microvasculature of obese participants after bariatric surgery.

The study, conducted at the Turku PET Centre in Finland, included 22 obese participants scheduled for obesity surgery and 15 lean, age-matched controls.

Detailed eye examinations were performed at the beginning of the study and six months later to assess signs of obesity-related impairments in the retinal vascular structure.

The researchers found that six months after bariatric surgery, the obese participants lost an average of 26 kg and showed significant improvements in the microvasculature of their retinas. Arteriolar narrowing and venular widening were less pronounced in this group, while no such changes were observed in the control group.

The authors concluded, “The capacity for the retinal microvasculature to improve following bariatric surgery suggests plasticity of the human microvasculature early in the disease course.”

The research was presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Lisbon, Portugal.