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Chapter One
Diabetes and the Eye
Kevin Shotliff and Grant Duncan
1.1 Introduction
Since the invention of the direct ophthalmoscope by Helmholtz in 1851 and
von Yaeger's first description of changes in the fundus of a person with diabetes
4 years later, there has been increasing interest in the retina as it contains the only
part of the vasculature affected by diabetes that is easily visible. Interestingly, these
first retinal changes described in 1855 were actually hypertensive, not diabetic.
Despite the target outlined in the St Vincent Declaration in 1989 to reduce
blindness caused by diabetes by one-third within 5 years, and the advances made
in laser therapy and vitreoretinal surgical techniques, diabetic retinopathy remains
the commonest cause of blindness in the working-age population of the Western
world. Furthermore, with predictions of a dramatic increase in the number of
people diagnosed with diabetes, the detection and treatment of diabetic retinopathy
continues to be a focal point for healthcare professionals. Indeed the recent
National Service Framework for ... read full excerpt from Diabetes: Chronic Complications ebook
