Diabetic retinopathy - ocular complications of diabetes mellitus

Table 1 Types of diabetic maculopathy[19]

Focal	Localized edema Lipid exudates Intraretinal hemorrhages Focal hyperfluorescence in late fluorescein angiography
Clinically significant without foveal thickening (non-center-involving) (sight-threatening)	Edema within 500 μm around the foveola Exudates within 500 μm around the foveola accompanied by edema Edema ≥ 1 optic-disk diameter within one optic-disk diameter around the foveola
Clinically significant with foveal thickening (center-involving)	Ill-defined edema, which may be cystoid Exudates Intraretinal hemorrhages Origin of leakage often not clearly identifiable by fluorescein angiography
Tractional	Due to vitreous traction to the fovea Thickened posterior hyaloid membrane OCT visualizes vitreal traction
Ischemic maculopathy (occlusion of the perifoveal capillaries)	Loss of vision without any clearly visible cause on fundoscopy Fluorescein angiography needed for diagnosis Difficult to diagnose by fundoscopy only Edema may be present or absent

OCT: Optical coherence tomography.

Table 2 Recommended timing of retinal examinations in patients with type 2 diabetes[6]

Patient characteristics	Timing of retinal examination
Initial diagnosis of type 2 diabetes	Soon
No diabetic retinopathy	Once a year
Presence of symptoms such as	During the next few days
Loss of vision
New difficulties during reading
Altered color perception
New, moving dark spots in the eye
Presence of diabetic retinopathy	Depending on the severity of retinopathy, e.g., every 3-6 mo