What conditions, diseases and irregularities affect the retina and vitreous?
The retina and vitreous can be affected by a large variety of conditions, including diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, retinal detachments or tears, macular holes, retinopathy of prematurity, flashes and floaters, retinoblastoma and retinitis pigmentosa. What is diabetic retinopathy? A person with diabetes is at risk for developing diabetic retinopathy among other ophthalmic disorders. Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in young and middle-aged adults today. The longer a person has diabetes, the greater their chance of developing diabetic retinopathy. There are two types of diabetic retinopathy: • non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) • proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) NPDR, also known as background retinopathy, is an early stage of diabetic retinopathy and occurs when the tiny blood vessels of the retina are damaged and begin to bleed or leak fluid into the retina resulting in swelling (diabetic macular edema) and the formation of deposits
