Diabetic Retinopathy is responsible for about 10 percent of new cases of blindness at all ages and almost 20 percent of new cases of blindness between 45 and 75 years. In a survey of the causes and incidence of blindness in the Maltese Islands carried out in 1958, it was found that diabetic retinopathy was the cause of 17 percent of cases of blindness (Damato 1958). In April 1974, an assessment of cases suffering from Diabetic Retinopathy with a view to treatment by light coagulation, was carried out at the Out Patient Department of St. Luke`s Hospital, Malta, along with Dr. Duncan and Dr. Cullen of Edinburgh University. Three hundred and thirty one cases were examined. The fundi of both eyes of every patient were examined under full pupillary dilatation. Visual acuity was also recorded.

peer-reviewed