Diabetic retinopathy, one of the serious complications of diabetes, is the most important manifestation of diabetic ocular microangiopathy and is one of the leading causes of blindness in blind adults. The prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in diabetic patients is generally about 50%. The longer the duration of diabetes, the higher the prevalence. Almost all diabetic patients have varying degrees of retinopathy after 20 years of disease. The prevalence of retinopathy after 30 years of disease is 95%, and in the insulin-dependent (early onset) group, the prevalence is 63% after 15 years of disease, with proliferative lesions accounting for about 18% and total blindness for 20% of the total. In the non-insulin-dependent (adult-onset) group, 75% had reduced vision to the point of inability to work, with half of them having a visual acuity of 0.1 or less (legal blindness). The occurrence of diabetic retinopathy is not strongly related to age and gender. As the number of diabetic patients increases year by year, the incidence of diabetic retinopathy has taken the first place in retinal vascular disease. The most common complaints of patients with diabetic retinopathy are flashing sensations and loss of vision. Patients are unaware of this when the early lesions have not yet invaded the macula, and the fundus is often examined only because of decreased visual acuity. Some patients find out they have diabetes only after their diabetic retinopathy is discovered. Diabetic retinopathy is chronic and progressive and is generally divided into two phases: background (or non-proliferative) and proliferative. A pre-proliferative stage can also be distinguished between the two. The current staging criteria for diabetic retinopathy in China are subdivided into three stages in each of these two major stages, for a total of six stages. The primary treatment for diabetic retinopathy is the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Whenever possible, dietary control or combined hypoglycemic drugs should be used to control blood glucose in the normal range. When oral medications fail to lower high blood glucose, insulin injections should be actively administered as directed by an endocrinologist. Long-term stable control of hyperglycemia can prevent or delay the occurrence and development of diabetic retinopathy. At the same time, systemic diseases such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia and nephropathy should also be treated. Diabetic patients with nephropathy mostly have high blood pressure and may develop nephrogenic hypertensive retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy in these patients is more likely to develop diffuse retinal edema and macular edema, and the incidence of neovascular glaucoma increases, so clinical treatment should be given to early laser treatment to reduce the occurrence and development of diabetic retinopathy. Western medicine treatment for diabetic retinopathy has been disappointing so far, and there is no good drug to control the development of the disease. Chinese medicine has been effective in the treatment of early diabetic retinopathy. When it comes to the proliferative stage, surgical treatment is mostly used, which is more risky and has unsatisfactory long-term effects. For diabetic retinopathy, it is important to detect and treat it early.