November 14 is the 25th World Diabetes Day. China is a country with a high prevalence of diabetes, and as of 2013, 113 million people have diabetes in China. Diabetes has become the third biggest killer after cardiovascular diseases and tumors. Diabetes can cause a variety of eye complications, of which diabetic retinopathy (referred to as glycoplasty) is a major blinding eye disease. According to statistics, the prevalence of retinopathy in diabetic patients ranges from 35% to 51.3%, 26% in those with disease duration of 10-14 years, 63% in those with disease duration of 15 years or more, and almost all patients with disease duration of more than 20 years develop diabetic retinopathy. The incidence of retinopathy correlates with the duration of diabetes and the degree of glycemic control, but not with age or gender of onset. What are the manifestations of diabetic retinopathy? Diabetic retinopathy is caused by diabetes mellitus. In addition to systemic symptoms characterized by excessive drinking, polyphagia, polyuria and elevated urine glucose and blood glucose, there are fundus changes characterized by bright red microangiomas, hemorrhages, gray-white exudates, bright red neovascularization, susceptibility to vitreous red blood pooling and retinal value-added changes in both retinas. In the early stage, when the fundus lesions do not affect the macula, vision is not affected and patients have no conscious symptoms. Sometimes patients feel that their vision is diminished or there are black shadows flying or floating in front of their eyes. If the lesion develops for 3 to 5 years or the blood sugar is not well controlled, it can cause different degrees of fundus hemorrhage, exudation, edema and hemangioma. If the macula of the fundus is involved, symptoms such as loss of vision, black shadows in front of the eyes, dark spots in the center of the visual field, loss of central vision and distortion of visual objects may occur. When the blood vessels or neovascularization bleed heavily into the vitreous cavity, vision will be seriously affected and even blindness will occur. How should diabetic retinopathy be treated? Currently, diabetic retinopathy is mainly treated with medication, laser and surgery. Drug and laser treatments are mainly used in the early and middle stages to stop the formation of new blood vessels in the retina and prevent the development of retinopathy so as to avoid further deterioration of vision. If the hemorrhage is severe, retinal proliferation is formed and retinal detachment, early surgical treatment is required. Experts point out that diabetic patients should have regular fundus examination every six months for early detection, early prevention and early treatment.