Recognising and managing diabetic retinopathy

Abstract

The management of diabetic retinopathy (DR) depends on accurately recognising or classifying the different types of DR and knowing what treatment to give the patient.DR has clinical signs which can be seen with an ophthalmoscope or with a slit lamp and a 90- or 78-dioptre lens. The advantage of the slit lamp is that it allows you to visualise the retina with both eyes. This stereoscopic vision provides a sense of depth which aids diagnosis, particularly of macular oedema. Other aids to DR diagnosis are fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, and optical coherence tomography.

Keywords

• Diabetic Retinopathy