Medical Management of Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the few and useful circumstances where the examining physician can directly monitor the pathologic sequelae of an otherwise silent systemic disease on the microcirculation of the retina. The end-stage manifestations of diabetic retinopathy culminate from the eye’s own regenerative responses to persistent ischemia. Dysregulated fibrovascular proliferation stemming from damaged retinal vessels leads to retinal detachment; or, proliferation of fibrovascular tissue in the anterior chamber can lead to neovascular glaucoma—both manifestations tend to portend a poor prognosis in the absence of prompt medical and surgical intervention.