Sight-threatening diabetic eye disease: an update and review of the literature.

Diabetic eye disease is the third most important cause of visual loss in England and Wales, after age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.1 In contrast to the first two, the evidence shows that effective treatment for diabetic eye disease begins not in the eye clinic, but in the GP practice. Vision-threatening consequences of diabetes include proliferative retinopathy and maculopathy. Proliferative retinopathy may cause vitreous haemorrhage and retinal detachment with catastrophic loss of vision. Maculopathy refers to oedema at the macula, secondary to retinal capillary leakage, with consequent loss of central visual acuity.