Treatment Options

The best treatment for diabetic retinopathy is prevention - keeping your blood sugar under control. Even when retinopathy is diagnosed, early treatment can preserve your vision. The treatment of diabetic retinopathy in any particular case depends upon multiple factors, including the type and degree of retinopathy, associated ocular factors such as cataract or vitreous hemorrhage, and the medical history of the patient.

Mild retinopathy may not require any specific eye treatment, rather just good control of your blood sugar. But if your vision is in jeopardy, more aggressive treatment may be suggested. It may first be necessary to photograph your retinas to provide a baseline to determine if the disease is progressing. This also allows for the identification of leaky blood vessels, and provides a "road-map" for possible surgical treatment. Treatment options include laser photocoagulation and vitrectomy surgery.

-Laser surgery is done as an outpatient procedure and requires no surgical incision. A strong light beam is aimed onto the retina to treat the abnormal vessels. Laser surgery has been proven to reduce the risk of severe vision loss from proliferative diabetic retinopathy by more than 50 percent. If you have macular edema, laser surgery may also be used. In this case, the laser beam is used to seal the leaking blood vessels. But even laser treatment may not help advanced cases. In these situations, a procedure called vitrectomy may be recommended.

-Vitrectomy may be required in advanced cases of proliferative retinopathy, especially when there is poor visibility within the eye due to blood and scar tissue. In this major eye operation, the surgeon uses delicate instruments - under the guidance of the operating microscope – to remove the vitreous gel along with the scar tissue and blood.

However, surgery often cannot restore vision that has already been lost. That's why finding diabetic retinopathy early is the best way to prevent vision loss. With timely treatment, the majority of those with advanced diabetic retinopathy can be saved from going blind.