Digital Retinal Photography: A Golden Standard? Affecting the performance of multiple systems within the human body, diabetes is known to impair patients’ vision significantly. Particularly, due to the increased blood sugar levels, a diabetic patient is exposed to the threat of the retina is damaged, which, in turn, may cause the rapid development of retinopathy and the resulting loss of vision (Padhy et al., 2019). Since the destruction of the retina occurs at a very fast pace, using tools that will allow detecting it in a patient and introducing appropriate measures immediately is crucial, which is why they use of digital retinal photography (DRP) as a diagnostic tool is vital. However, the role of the DRP must not overshadow the application of other methods that allow for a more accurate diagnosis and a more precise measurement of the extent of the threat. In its essence, DRP is the process of scanning the back of an eye, including the retina, the optic disk, and the blood vessels, for any abnormalities or dysfunctions. Thus, applying DRP as the method of capturing the presence of a threat and undertaking measures for counteracting it is vital to the patient’s well-being (Unnikrishnan et al., 2018). Specifically, DRP provides a wider view of the retina due to the application of digital technologies that offer greater opportunities for navigating the patient examination process (Rhee et al., 2020). Thus, DRP must be acknowledged for the improvements that it has introduced into the early management of retinopathy, particularly, in diabetic patients, who are especially prone to the disease. However, the DRP technique also has noticeable disadvantages. For instance, despite the presence of digital technologies in the described method, the DRP technique does not provide an entirely accurate account of the changes in the patient’s retina. Therefore, it cannot be viewed as a standalone tool for testing the development of retinopathy in diabetic patients and, instead, should be used as an auxiliary tool (Zapata et al., 2020). Indeed, as the existing studies indicate, the use of DNP implies several important limitations, both in terms of quality of diagnosis and the associated costs. Specifically, DNP is not included in digital care plans, which means that it will not be covered by insurance. Although the current fee for DNP is quite affordable, the absence of insurance coverage still represents a significant concern. In addition, different DNP tools perform the assessment of the retina at different levels of accuracy (Andriesen et al., 2017). Therefore, the outcomes of the assessment are likely t require additional assessment and a more precise diagnostic tool. Finally, the low resolution of the obtained images does not allow making DNP the golden standard for diagnosing retinopathy in patients. Instead, it must be used as the first assessment tool in conjunction with other assessment techniques and followed by a more detailed and accurate assessment approach, such as a comprehensive eye exam combined with optical coherence tomography (OCT). Since OCT allows scanning different layers of the retina and defines its thickness, it offers a much more accurate assessment, which makes DNP less efficient by comparison (Sanborn and Wroblewski, 2018). Nevertheless, as the means of controlling the development of diabetic retinopathy, the specified tool I quite efficient t indicating changes at the early stages, which is why it