Diabetic retinopathy - Diagnosing diabetic retinopathy
- Introduction
- Symptoms of diabetic retinopathy
- Causes of diabetic retinopathy
- Diagnosing diabetic retinopathy
- Treating diabetic retinopathy
- Preventing diabetic retinopathy
- 'To improve your eyesight, you have to make lifestyle changes'
- See what the doctor sees with Map of Medicine
- Complications
In the early stages, diabetic retinopathy does not cause any noticeable symptoms. Therefore, it tends to be diagnosed as a result of a diabetic eye screening test.
You should receive a letter from your local Diabetic Eye Screening Service inviting you to attend a screening appointment.
Everyone with diabetes who is 12 years of age or over should be invited to have their eyes screened once a year.
A trained person will put eyes drops into your eye to enlarge your pupils, and photographs of your retina will be taken.
Within six weeks, both you and your GP should receive a letter letting you know your results.
The screening results may show either:
- no retinopathy
- background retinopathy – also called stage one retinopathy
- degrees of referable retinopathy – this means retinopathy that requires referral to an eye specialist for further assessment and/or treatment
For more information, visit our page on diabetic eye screening.
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