There are two treatments for diabetic retinopathy. They are very effective in reducing vision loss from this disease. In fact, even people with advanced retinopathy have a 90 percent chance of keeping their vision when they get treatment before the retina is severely damaged.

These two treatments are laser surgery and vitredtomy. It is important to note that although these treatments are very successful, they do not cure diabetic retinopathy.

Laser Surgery
Laser surgery is performed in a doctor's off ice or eye clinic. Before the surgery, your ophthalmologist will: (1) dilate your pupil and (2) apply drops to numb the eye. In some cases, the doctor also may numb the area behind the eye to prevent any discomfort.

The lights in the office will be dim. As you sit facing the laser machine, your doctor will hold a special lens to your eye. During the procedure, you may see flashes of light. These flashes may eventually create a stinging sensation that makes you feel a little uncomfortable.

  

For the rest of the day, your vision will probably be a little blurry. If your eye hurts a bit, your eye care professional can suggest a way to control this.

Doctors will perform laser surgery to treat severe macular edema and proliferative retinopathy.

Macular Edema: Timely laser surgery can reduce vision loss from macular edema by half. But you may need to have laser surgery more that once to control the leaking fluid.

During the surgery, your doctor will aim a high-energy beam of light directly onto the damaged blood vessels. This is called focal laser treatment. This seals the vessels and stops them from leaking. Generally, laser surgery is used to stabilize vision, not necessarily to improve it.

Proliferative Retinopathy: In treating advanced diabetic retinopathy, doctors use the laser to destroy the abnormal blood vessels that form at the back of the eye. Rather than focus the light on a single spot, your eye care professional will make hundreds of small laser burns away from the center of the retina. This is called scatter laser treatment. The treatment shrinks the abnormal blood vessels. You will lose some of your side vision after this surgery to save the rest of your sight. Laser surgery may also slightly reduce your color and night vision.

Once you have proliferative retinopathy, you will also be at risk for new bleeding. This means you may need treatment more than once to protect your sight.

Vitrectomy
Instead of laser surgery, you may need an eye operation called a vitrectomy to restore your sight. A vitrectomy is preformed if you have a lot of blood in the vitreous. It involves removing the cloudy vitreous and replacing it with a salt solution. Because the vitreous is mostly water, you will notice no change between the salt solution and the normal vitreous.

Studies show that people who have a vitrectomy soon after a large hemorrhage are more likely to protect their vision that someone who wait to have the operation. Early vitrectomy is especially effective in people with insulin-dependent diabetes, who may be at a greater risk of blindness from a hemorrhage into the eye.

Vitrectomy is often done under local anesthesia. This means that you will be awake during the operation. The doctor makes a tiny incision in the sclera, or white of the eye. Next, a small instrument is placed into the eye. It removes the vitreous and inserts the salt solution into the eye.

You may be able to return home soon after the vitrectomy. Or, you may be asked to stay in the hospital overnight. Your eye will be red and sensitive. After the operation, you will need to wear an eyepatch for a few days or weeks to protect the eye. You will also need to use medicated eye drops to protect against infection.