Diabetic Retinopathy

(Background and Proliferative Retinopathy) A progressive disorder of the retina damaging the receptor cells and small blood vessels in the eye that can lead to vision changes. Early stage background retinopathy, the blood vessels bulge and leak fluids into the retina and may cause blurring. In the advanced stage, proliferative retinopathy is more serious and can cause vision loss because new blood vessels form in the retina and branch out to other areas of the eye causing blood to leak into the clear fluid (vitreous) inside the eye and cause tissue in the macula to swell or cause the retina to detach.