Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes that affects the blood vessels of the retina.
Growth of new blood vessels, known as proliferative retinopathy , may lead to blindness through haemorrhage and scarring. A deterioration of retinal blood vessels causing loss of blood vessels and leakage into the retina is known as maculopathy and leads to visual impairment and may progress to blindness. Without taking into account improved detection, the prevalence of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes will increase over the next two decades 2 . Type 2 diabetes is more common in the elderly population. Diabetes is much more common in people of Asian Indian and Afro-Caribbean origin 4 .