Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in the working age population of most developed countries but has been shown to no longer be the leading cause in England and Wales. The introduction of the national screening programmes has been considered to be a major contributor to this achievement. The people with diabetes who still lose vision are often non-attenders who present late in the disease when treatment is more difficult. Tightening of control of glycaemia and blood pressure can slow the disease progression. When sight threatening retinopathy is detected, laser treatment and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor treatments reduce the risk of visual loss. When advanced retinopathy is detected, vitrectomy results have improved considerably over the last 20 years and a reasonable level of vision is often retained.