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British Journal of Ophthalmology 2006;90:2-3; doi:10.1136/bjo.2005.082065
Copyright © 2006 by the BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
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EDITORIAL

Diabetic blindness

Prevention of diabetic blindness

E Stefánsson

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor Einar Stefánsson
University of Iceland, Landspitali Hringbraut, Reykjavik 110, Iceland; einarste@landspitali.is

New technologies or "old fashioned" public health?

Keywords: diabetic retinopathy; visual field; vision; retina; perimetry

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

We ophthalmologists know how to prevent diabetic blindness, but we are not doing it. The scientific principles of treatment of diabetic retinopathy and prevention of blindness have been known for over 20 years. In spite of this, diabetic eye disease remains a major public health problem with large numbers of people with diabetes going blind worldwide from what is largely a preventable cause of blindness.1–6 The problem will expand rapidly in the decades to come with the ongoing worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes mellitus.7 Is it possible that our efforts in this field are directed too much towards new inventions in diagnostic technologies and treatment and not enough towards old fashioned public health efforts and health care, using the equipment and knowledge we already have?

Specific treatment for diabetic retinopathy was initially limited to pituitary gland destruction. In the 1970s this was replaced with photocoagulation, and the . . . [Full text of this article]


Related Article

Scanning laser entoptic perimetry for the detection of visual defects associated with diabetic retinopathy
M El-Bradey, D J Plummer, D Uwe-Bartsch, and W R Freeman
Br. J. Ophthalmol. 2006 90: 17-19. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]





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