Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) represents one of the most impacting health issues of the modern era, as it is associated with an extensive range of comorbidities. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one the utmost severe diabetes complications as it is one of the major causes of vision loss among these patients. Our present research aims to evaluate the most frequent risk factors related to the occurrence of DR in T2DM patients. Method: This study consisted of a research group of 302 participants, priorly diagnosed with T2DM, that were evaluated for the most important risk factors related to the occurrence of DR. Results: Patients had a median age of 64 years, 48% of them being women, with a 12-year median duration of DM and presenting a deficient glycaemic control echoed by a median HbA1C value of 7.5%. From the total number of participants, the total prevalence of DR in different stages of severity was 34.8% with a 95% CI. Statistically significant values were found regarding DM duration (p = 0.007), HbA1c > 7.2% (p = 0.001) and patients aged over 67 years (p = 0.0035), all these parameters being directly linked to DR. Conclusions: Older patients with T2DM that have a longer disease duration and simultaneous comorbidities present a higher risk of DR development, consequently a stringent management of these pathologies is needed.

Eales’ disease is a difficult to treat idiopathic form of retinal vasculitis. We present such a case with peculiar epidemiology in which the only efficient therapeutic approach in order to maintain functional vision was repeated intravitreal dexamethasone implants (Ozurdex®). To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of this kind in the literature. This is the case of a 40-year-old white woman presenting in 2008 with recurrent floaters accompanied by blurring of vision in her right eye and severe visual loss in her left eye caused by retinal detachment; her age at presentation was 30 years. A diagnosis of Eales’ disease was made by exclusion. She was stable until 2011 after childbirth (cesarean section). Despite aggressive systemic treatment with steroids, azathioprine, and mycophenolate mofetil, progression of the disease was noted that could only be controlled with repeated intravitreal dexamethasone implants (Ozurdex®) injected in her right eye. Her left eye underwent vitrectomy with silicone oil tamponade for tractional retinal detachment with satisfactory anatomical result but vision was limited to light perception. In our case the systemic therapy was much less effective than the intravitreal sustained-release dexamethasone implant (Ozurdex®) for reducing recurrences and halting disease progression. We believe that recurrent and severe cases could benefit from this addition to the classic treatment armamentarium.