**1. Introduction**

*"It is a truism that each solution brings its own problems. Diabetic retinopathy in survivors of longstanding diabetes…represents the price paid for conquests that are not quite complete. The prolongation of life without corresponding prolongation of health, is loaded with intractable problems." commented Arnold Sorsby on the "striking increase" of blindness from diabetes for both men and women between 1948 and 1962. [1]*

The next six decades saw intensive research in the pathogenesis and epidemiology of diabetic eye disease and the introduction of laser photocoagulation in the early treatment of diabetic retinopathy, pars plana vitrectomy for traction, and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and intravitreal pharmacotherapy in the management of diabetic macular edema (DME), all addressing prevention of vision loss in these patients.
