Diabetic maculopathy.

This paper discusses a special group of diabetics (maturity onset) who present with a particular form of retinopathy. The pathology is restricted to the macular zone with minimal other retinopathic complications such as detachment, proliferans, or neovascularization. One hundred of these patients with circinate rings of perimacular exudate with edema have characterized and compared to a similar number of patients with diabetic retinopathy without circinate exudates. The statistically significant differences in age of onset, duration of the disease, and associated ocular findings are defined. Photocoagulation therapy has resulted in a satisfying response in a large number of patients, as well as in the control series where the contralateral eye with the same pattern of disease is untreated. It is concluded that this study group represents an identifiable segment of our diabetic retinopathy population which is highly amenable to successful photocoagulation therapy.