Diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is the damage to the retina caused by diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetic retinopathy often has no obvious symptoms in the early stage. If not detected early, when symptoms do appear, the condition may have been developed to later stages and vision would be affected seriously. The worse scenario is blindness.

The longer a person has diabetes, the more prone he is to have diabetic retinopathy. About one-third of patients with over 10 years of DM have some degree of retinopathy. With the disease for more than 20 years, the chance of complication increases to two-third. Regular comprehensive eye examinations is vital for early detection and early treatment, hence greatly reduce the serious complication of diabetes.

We strongly advise patients with diabetes mellitus to undergo a comprehensive eye examination every year.